The Consequences Of The Truth
by BnBfanatic
Summary: Missing Scene from 'Truth Or Consequences' epi. Takes place just as Tony, Tim and Ziva are limping out of the Somalian prison heading towards Gibbs. Enjoy!
1. Mission 'Not Get Dead!

**_Yes - another Missing Scene from my fave show NCIS and involving my fave character Tony DiNozzo. I might change the title, I'm still deciding. _**_**THANK YOU for the awesome reviews of my last missing scene story! I am working on sending you individual replies so just hang tight!**_

_This time it's the "Truth Or Consequences" episode and the scene takes place after Gibbs comes in to make sure his team gets out of the Somalian camp safely. There have been some stories, tags and missing scenes already written but so far none have been as Tony centric as mine will be. I think he went through hell from the moment he found the photo of Michael Rivkin to the way Ziva betrayed him by making Gibbs choose between her and him. Not to mention how mean she was to him in Africa when he risked his LIFE to save her sorry ass. I LOVE Ziva normally though so I just didn't like how that played out. I think the writers ruined the old ZIVA sexual tension but hope I am wrong._

_The Producers of NCIS should have made the Season 7 Premiere episode a__** two-hour**__ special episode. There were so many more scenes that would have been amazing to see. This is my attempt to take care of at least one scene. On with the story!_

**The Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter I**

**Mission – Not Get Dead**

As the disheveled and exhausted trio emerged from the "interrogation" room that had doubled as their prison, they saw a threat directly in front of them, in the form of another one of Saleem's terrorist gunmen. Then just as suddenly, the threat was taken down in the blink of an eye by one bullet visibly startling all three of them. As they quickly scuttled around the corner where his body lay in a heap, they saw him. Gibbs. Three battered bodies tiredly sagged against each other in relief, immediately picking up their pace using what was left of their adrenaline. Gibbs went on ahead of them to clear each corner before signaling his Senior Agent with hand signals when it was safe to proceed.

As they moved along following their boss to the awaiting chopper, a goal that to all three of the weary teammates seemed to be over 500 miles away though it was actually very close. Then all of a sudden Ziva faltered for a moment, her legs weak from fatigue, loss of muscle tone and lack of proper nourishment and her Bothers-In-Arms so to speak both had to pull from within their own depleted reserves just to hold her up and continue to half carry her along trying to just make it to the chopper and using all the extra strength they could muster given their own weakened states.

Tony's arms and legs burned badly from lactic acid buildup in his muscles caused by dehydration and worsened by the extra exertion of having to walk so far while feeling so ill – all thanks to the combination of unknown drugs still coursing through his veins. He hoped that the cold sweat he could feel pouring down his face, the severe nausea and dizziness he was also feeling now, would go unnoticed by his team – especially Gibbs!

McGee knew this was one of the few times - if not the _**only**_ time, that he was the strongest of the trio, being that he had been lucky enough to essentially rest on the floor all but ignored by Saleem while he feigned unconsciousness. Yet Tony hadn't been as lucky since he had been forced to take the brunt of the man's anger and hours of grueling interrogation – not to mention, being drugged. Even McGee's dehydration had been less than Tony's purely due to the fact that he was able to refrain from talking or moving which kept him from sweating much and taking extra dry air into his mouth while speaking. While Tony on the other hand, had been forced to talk even more than his usual unsurpassed amount, partially because of the drugs that were forced upon him, but also because he had to stall long enough to find out if Ziva was indeed – dead, before their Sniper turned Boss turned Sniper, killed the deadly terrorist.

Out of the corner of his eye, McGee took a quick glance in Tony's direction, he was the only one present to witness Tony as he expressed his true feelings about Ziva to Saleem, thanks to the truth serum portion of the drug mixture he was injected with. Tim had suspected this more and more over the past few months as he watched his partner become completely obsessed with trying to find out what happened to her. Tim's suspicions were confirmed when he watched the heartbreaking downward spiral of his partner – after they had been told by Gibbs that she was dead.

McGee made sure to keep a watchful eye over his friend as they made their way to the rescue chopper that was now only a few yards in front of them. He could see the sweat pouring off Tony's face and the veins that were protruding from his neck and forehead as he struggled to stay upright and not drop their precious cargo – one Ms. Ziva David.

Ziva – was silent, still trying to absorb what was even happening and trying to convince herself that it was not a dream. She felt a mixture of emotions coursing through her, on one hand she felt almost giddy that Tony was the first face she laid eyes upon having all but given up on that rescue fantasy months ago. She knew she was unnecessarily mean to him in the interrogation cell, but she felt it was necessary to keep him alive. She knew firsthand how quickly Saleem could turn on a dime and just as easily slice her former partner's neck almost clear to the back of his cervical spine in one swipe. But if anything like that were to have happened, she knew she would have found some way take her own life as soon as possible knowing she could never live with the guilt of knowing they had died trying to save her.

She realized over her months of doing nothing_ but_ thinking, that she had been in love with him even before she started sleeping with Michael. She also realized that his trip to her apartment that fateful night was exactly what he said it was – that he had been concerned for his partner's safety and just wanted to check in on her to make sure she was okay. How could she have doubted him? Everyone knew that Tony always came to anyone's rescue who needed it, it was just part of his good hearted nature. How could she have been so stupid? How was Michael able to manipulate her so easily?

Those and so many other questions had flooded her mind throughout her long, hot Summer spent in captivity and fear.

She knew now that she had overreacted that night in her apartment. Perhaps it was due to the shock of seeing Rivkin dying, or perhaps the shock of seeing Tony hurt or the shock of knowing she had been played the fool by Michael and that her partner and friend had been a witness to it – and nearly killed because of it. Her pride was all but shattered while depression and grief seemed to take over what was left of her.

Suddenly her thoughts were snapped back to the present when she felt her legs giving out from under her.

She tried hard to keep herself moving knowing that her human crutches were in rough shape themselves. Yet she instantly felt their amazing strength as she was held up and half carried the rest of the way. Six months ago, she would have pulled from every reserve of energy and strength she had to keep her partners from seeing her appear weak. But her African experience had changed her, that her previous bravado and rather macho and stubborn pride – all seemed so stupid now. She realized that allowing herself to feel, to show emotion and weakness on occasion that it didn't make her weak, didn't make her less of a fighter - or less of a woman.

She stealthily glanced over at Tony through her peripheral vision, he wasn't looking so well she observed. She knew the drugs he had said were given to him were dangerous and strong, his body would be trying to reject the toxins at this point and his already weakened condition would not be on his side. She thought back to his words to her in the cell ~_ 'that's why we have to stay alive long enough to not – get – dead!' ~ _leave it to him to combine humor with such a serious topic. It seemed whenever danger was, his sarcasm and humor were at their peak. She knew however, that he did that more for the benefit of calming others down around him, his team as well as any victims, keeping them from allowing fear to stifle their behavior – keeping them all focused on getting away and to safety in one piece.

In short order they were all pulled quickly into the huge military chopper as Gibbs was now somehow _**behind **_them - prepared to shoot to kill any and all who attempted to delay them. Within minutes they were all safely on board and rising quickly up into the air as their boss pulled the heavy sliding door partially closed to protect them from rampant and McGee were seated and buckled in against one wall, holding onto the cargo netting and straps that were hanging above and behind them. Gibbs had taken the seat against the opposite wall on the same side as Ziva.

For what seemed like hours the three dehydrated and exhausted teammates and their boss all stared at each other. Gibbs, Tony and McGee staring more so in Ziva's direction just trying to absorb the fact that she was there, alive - not dead as they had previously thought for over two months. None of them knew quite what to say since her initial departure had been so wrought with turmoil, deception and unanswered questions.

For once it was Gibbs who ended up breaking the silence, usually he was the one who remained silent whilst the others rambled on around him. "It's good to see you again Ziva. Are you alright?" he asked her first and foremost.

"Yes, I am fine Gibbs. It is good to see you as well." she said in response, unsure of really what to say in this situation. She found herself still in shock of the fact that they had even come for her, and succeeded to rescue her when she had all but given up hope months ago. She didn't thank him though – mainly because she still felt they had unnecessarily risked their lives for her and that she was not deserving of such an unbelievable sacrifice.

She caught herself glancing over in Tony's direction, relieved to find that his eyes were closed, his head leaning back against the wall behind him. She began silently checking him over since she knew he had been drugged and having been privy to some of Saleem's other injected concoctions, she knew the side effects could be severe to say the least. Even with his skin being browned by the African sun, she could still notice the grayness in his pallor and the sheen of cold sweat breaking out all over his still handsome face, the tight clenching of his chiseled jaw as he fought to control his nausea.

She frowned, knowing him as well as she did, she knew he was trying hard to silently overcome his feelings of sickness and pain – purposely remaining unusually stoic so as not to cause Gibbs to catch on.

Gibbs however, didn't miss a thing, **ever**. He had been silently observing his entire team since he had been seated and nothing had escaped his notice. After speaking to Ziva, he caught her as she cast a stealthy glance over in Tony's direction, in following the movement of her eyes he could see that she was observing her former partner with concern. Gibbs knew that was unusual behavior since Tony had been the last person she wanted to so much as look at before they left her in Israel.

He then allowed his own eyes to shift in the direction of his Senior Field Agent. He had never been as proud of Tony as he was this past couple of months. He had really stepped up and taken the initiative to formulate the plan to avenge for Ziva's alleged death and to also attempt to fulfill the mission she had been heading to Somalia to undertake. Gibbs knew that there had to be a reason for Ziva to suddenly be looking so worried about Tony when just months ago, she all but hated him. As Gibbs turned his own attention towards his all too quiet Agent, giving Tony a head to toe once over, it only took him a matter of seconds to detect the same problems that Ziva had observed as well as the green and purple bruising on his face that stood out prominently in ratio to his far too pale skin. He had been too busy getting them to the chopper in one piece, to notice _any_ of his team's conditions.

"DiNozzo." he said in a voice just loud enough to be heard over the whirling of the loud chopper blades. No response.

"DINOZZO!" he yelled much louder this time.

Tony slightly jumped at the sound of his name – his eyes flashing open wildly for a moment, then seeing his surroundings and feeling a headache pounding from behind his eyes, he closed them again quickly in an attempt to settle his ridiculous dizziness and calm the throbbing in his head. It was obvious to him that his symptoms were not unlike having been on a drunken or drug binge. He kept his eyes titghtly closed, praying that at least the effects of the truth serum portion of the drugs had worn off. Fighting the emotional urge to tell Gibbs he was feeling like crap, while fighting the physical urge to throw up. "Yeah Boss?" he replied curtly in a very weak voice.

"HEY- you feelin' alright Tony?" Gibbs questioned, realizing uncomfortably that Tony looked as bad as he had the day he returned to work after having the Plague.

Tony had to fight with all he had to not answer his bosses question the way his mind was urging him to.

"**Mmm-hmm**." he forced out through clenched teeth and pursed lips in an effort to contain not only his words, but the bile that was rising in his throat.

"Yeah, I bet you do." came Gibbs sarcastic reply. "Well you are still going to get checked out when we land at the air strip. I arranged to have a couple of Medics on hand to check ALL of you out."

McGee decided to come clean and tell their boss just what had been done to Tony, knowing he would probably be killed later by his partner's bare hands. He didn't care. He hated to see his friend suffer. "Gibbs, uh . . . you should know . . . um, Tony was uh, inje-"

"Probie!" came a rather quiet reprimand from the ailing partner to his left. Tony trying not to aggravate his booming head,

"Uhm, boss . . . er well, I was just going to say that Tony was . . . uh, **in**-sisting that Ziva be checked out. She needs attention the most." the Junior Agent recovered quickly. He suddenly felt like he would be betraying his partner's trust since they had really bonded over the Summer and he knew Tony had enough pride to want to stay off Gibbs radar and keep the focus only on helping Ziva. Gibbs felt anger at the fact that he knew Tim well enough to know that wasn't what he was initially starting to say. He knew Tim was now backtracking from whatever he had started to say. Jethro knew that Tim usually stuttered the worst when he was trying to cover something up or when he knew that his words were going to invoke the wrath of his boss.

Yet Gibbs also felt proud in knowing how close his two male Agents had become of late. He would have done the same thing for his own partners in the past, or any of his Marine comrades. But at the same time, someone's health and well being – especially one of HIS team, was not something Gibbs took lightly and was nothing to mess around with. He would get to the bottom of this when they landed - unless Tony's condition deteriorated any further before then.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_


	2. Macho BS!

_**Final Scene From Chapter I . . .**_

_Gibbs felt anger at the fact that he knew Tim well enough to know that wasn't what he was initially starting to say. He knew Tim was now back tracking since he usually stuttered the worst when he was trying to cover up something or knowing his words would invoke the wrath of his boss._

_Yet he also felt proud in knowing how close his two male Agents had become of later. He would have done the same thing for his own partners in the past, or any of his Marine comrades. But at the same time, someone's health and well being – especially one of HIS team, was not something Gibbs took lightly and was nothing to mess around with. He would get to the bottom of this when they landed. Unless Tony's condition deteriorated any further before then._

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter II**

Tony once again allowed his head to fall back against the inner wall of the chopper again. Closing his eyes, willing the dizziness and throbbing of his face and head to subside. Dizziness that had been slowly building from the second Tim freed him from that dreaded chair. A nauseating vertigo that became further aggravated by raising his voice like he did, to stifle the word _'injected'_ that was about to spill from his worried partner's dry, chapped lips.

All Tony knew is that he had to immediately halt his partner before he exposed the secret about the toxic mixture that consisted of mostly unknown drugs that were now fully embedded in his system. An unrevealed fact of the mission that he had hoped would_** remain**_ hidden. Thankful that he had been able to stop the Junior Agent before he completed his original sentence, and even more grateful that so far, he had also been able to refrain from talking – other than one word here and there.

However, even with how poorly he was feeling and through closed eyes - he could still sense Gibbs staring at him. He had worked with the man long enough to be able to detect that - even if his back was turned or his eyes were closed. It took all of Tony's might to not let the truth serum effects allow him to come right out and tell his Boss that he knew he was staring at him. He always had a big mouth but this – this urge to babble endlessly - was **ridiculous**!

All he could do was try hard to not visibly sway, cringe or grimace until he sensed that his Boss had turned away to study Ziva's and McGee's conditions.

Tony eventually opened his eyes to look over at Ziva, he was still having a hard time believing they had actually found her – **Alive! **He was relieved to find that her eyes were closed now and she was most likely dozing from relief and exhaustion. Even with taking in her healing bruises, her fatigued and pale features and her gaunt appearance – he never felt more enamored by her beauty.

Having been forced to soldier through months of not seeing her, not talking to her and worst of all, grieving for her, he hadn't realized just how deeply he had missed her – until he had her back.

Tim McGee – he was too busy berating himself silently within his own head, to notice Gibbs staring at each of them at length. Or Ziva as she cast sly worried glances in Tony's direction and Tony doing the same to her when she wasn't looking.

On one hand he was mad at himself for almost betraying Tony's situation knowing full well that his partner would most likely kill him. But on the other hand he was mad at himself for not exposing the truth of what was done to Tony, possibly endangering his health even further if there ended up being more risks to the unknown concoction of potent drugs. Especially considering the fact that Tony already had the added disadvantage of having very scarred lungs from the Plague that could be fatal if any of the drugs coursing through him right now, depressed the respiratory system in any way.

He hated to think how angry Gibbs would be when the Medics that they were getting closer to by every minute, detected Tony's dilated pupils, high blood pressure and other obvious physical symptoms of having been drugged.

Tony was absorbing every inch of Ziva making sure that she was alright, much in the same way Gibbs had been analyzing his own well being. Tony was sure that Gibbs was also concerned about Ziva – more so than Tony - since they had such a _unique _relationship. Everyone knew the silver haired Marine had a soft spot in his heart for the Israeli Officer, almost like that of a Daughter.

What Tony didn't realize, was that his Boss looked at Tony very much in the same regard – like that of the Son he never had. Finally after what only seemed like minutes, the foursome felt the descent as the chopper lowered itself towards the landing pad at the Airstrip. There was a plane already awaiting them - fueled and ready to take the reunited team home.

Tony had hoped he would feel better by the time the Medics looked them all over, surprised to see he still felt like crap! He finally felt like the need to speak freely and honestly had thankfully subsided for the most part – but not knowing how this drug concoction worked, he had to be on guard in case it came in waves.

Ziva had pretty much dosed the entire short trip even though she had no intention of doing that originally. What her body and mind had been through these past months, along with the shock of seeing Tony's handsome face in front of her the very moment the bag was yanked off her head, and letting it sink in that they were truly there to rescue her, had zapped what little strength she had left.

She started to look in the direction of Tony and McGee to assess their injuries, but before completing the task she closed her eyes just to rest them for a moment. But her body had other plans, keeping her eyes closed, causing her to slip into the first peaceful slumber she had in months. Peaceful from knowing her NCIS family had NOT betrayed her - they loved her and they came for her!

_**Military Airfield . . .**_

After landing, the team remained strapped in while awaiting instructions from the Pilot that it was safe to exit the chopper. They were still in dangerous territory and on Foreign soil so the Soldiers on-site had to make sure the area was secure of enemies or snipers, before escorting the team to the awaiting Medical Unit.

As Tony sat up straighter to remove the straps that secured him to the seat, he moved all too gingerly and slow due to the pain that had set into the cracked ribs that he had recieved from when Salim's men had overtaken his and McGee's vehicle. They had used the rifle butt to take him down by smashing it once into his ribcage, once in his face and one final blow on to the back of his head as he fell forward near the Hummer. Tony felt additional bruising and stiffness leading him to believe they may have gotten in some additional kicks after he was down and out.

Gibbs and McGee were both watching Tony out of the corner of their eyes. McGee had been pounded a couple of times as well when they were overtaken, but as far as he could tell, nothing was broken.

McGee's concern wasn't in regard to Tony's physical damage from the beating they took – but concerned more so about the unseen damage from the injection he was given.

Tony was oblivious to the watchful eyes of his Boss and Partner – he thought they had all been just as preoccupied with freeing themselves of the restraining seat belts and preparing to move out. So he wasn't aware that they had seen him as he nearly passed out once he attempted to stand. He immediately grabbed onto some of the thick strap-like netting above him hanging from the ceiling for paratroopers to hold onto before a jump. He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear the cobwebs and control the vertigo.

His nausea was still there - if not worse than before, clearly a sign his body was trying to expel itself of the nasty unknown substances. He wasn't sure which urge was more severe, the urge to retch all over the floor, or the urge to completely pass out in front of his team. Neither of which was acceptable so he fought hard to will his body to control the urges, focusing on deep breathing exercises that were known to help calm nausea and anxiety – not realizing that _everyone_ could hear him breathing through his obviously clenched teeth.

Gibbs had had enough, he could no longer sit back and wait for one of his team to tell him what happened and what was wrong with each of them. DiNozzo and McGee had obviously forgotten that Gibbs had been watching much of their experience in the interrogation room, through the high powered scope of his sniper rifle. Though his scope limited his view, he was still able to move it around to carefully scope out every inch of the room so he could make sure he had several angles from which to take down the target, Salim.

He had to make sure he would be able to fire off a shot without injuring one of his team, his family. He was just getting set up and situated when Tony was injected with the drug so Gibbs hadn't seen the actual injection. But he was able to see the un-zippered pouch that was left on a table against the wall to Tony's right. The pouch that held the obvious paraphernalia – a used syringe, rubber tubing, a vial of unknown substances, etc. In hindsight he wished he had forced his way past Tony, Ziva and McGee in the hall way, to grab the vial before retreating. That way Abby and Ducky could analyze the compound.

_'Dammit!'_ he thought, _'how could I have neglected to do that!'_

He wasn't 100% sure the injection was indeed given to Tony, or if it had been laying there from a previous interrogation including Ziva's. But now seeing the clear signs of something wrong with his Senior Agent, he easily deduced that his gut feeling about Tony being the one injected, was as always – right on the money.

"DiNo-" Gibbs started to yell, having had enough of his team's macho bullshit, even though he seemed to forget that he was worse than all of them put together. His holler was cut off as the side door was hauled open and one of the Soldier's outside yelled in that it was all clear for them to exit.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Please continue with the reviews! I want to know if you like this chapter and what I am doing with the story. I have a great idea where I want to take this and already have the next chapter half written! STAY TUNED AND THANKS FOR READING AND REVIEWING!**_


	3. Protocol

_**Quick Author's Note -** I only proof read this chapter once so I could hurry and get it posted, so just ignore any minor errors if you see any. I will proof read it again later to fix any mistakes. ALSO - this chapter is pretty long so in reviews let me know if you think it was TOO long since some readers don't like that. Thanks!_

_**Final Scene From Chapter II . . .**_

_He wasn't 100% sure that the injection was given to **Tony,** or if it had been laying there from a previous interrogation including Ziva's. But now seeing the clear signs of something wrong with his Senior Agent, he easily deduced that his gut feeling about Tony being the one injected, was as always – right on the money._

"_DiNo-" Gibbs started to yell, having had enough of his team's macho bullshit, even though he seemed to forget that he was worse than all of them put together. His holler was cut off as the side door was hauled open and one of the Soldier's outside yelled in that it was all clear for them to exit._

_N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*__N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*__N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*__N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*__N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*__N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*__N*C*I*S*N*C*I*S*_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter III**

McGee exited first and then assisted Ziva off the chopper, they stood to the side waiting for Gibbs and Tony so they could all stay together. None of them wanting to be separated from each other for very long, having only been recently reunited after far too long apart.

Gibbs stayed behind Tony, wanting to be able to assist him if his balance became too precarious. He had decided to wait and let the Medics tell him what they were dealing with, rather than confront the ailing Agent - whom he knew would just deny he had any problems anyhow.

Tony made it out of the chopper without incident, breathing an audible sigh of relief and filled with a false hope that he was over the worst of it. They were informed that they were to head towards the hangar where the small team of Medics were awaiting their arrival.

The medical team had set up a fully functional Mobile Triage Unit complete with cots, IV's, several units of blood that matched up with each of the team's individual blood type. Mainly to be prepared in the event that anyone required a transfusion from heavily bleeding injuries such as a gun shot or knife wound. They also had obtained the necessary equipment used to test blood samples, at least to a certain degree. All of this was common procedure for many of the Top Secret Military missions. All Military and non-Military personnel involved in a particular mission, had to undergo a semi-thorough exam before being allowed to leave the Country to head back to the States.

The mandatory check ups were not only for the purpose of treating injuries or infections, but just as importantly to check temperatures and take blood samples to rule out any sign of Infectious diseases that could unknowingly be carried back to the States. These precautionary measures had become mandatory ever since a past incident where a group of Military Operatives brought back a rare type of African Fever with them and infected hundreds of others on their US Military Base.

As the team forged their way towards the Hangar, Tony had taken all of five steps before he dropped like a stone. He had passed out so suddenly that he was out completely before even close to hitting the quickly rising ground. His forehead hit the tarmac with enough force to cause Ziva to gasp out loud in horror of the painful sound and McGee wasn't sure w

Gibbs was only inches behind his Agent when he saw him start to drop, but the man had fallen so quickly that Gibbs' had less than seconds to react. His fingers only barely brushing the material of Tony's sleeve, unable to grasp enough of the material to ease his Agent's landing.

Within 2 seconds flat Gibbs was kneeling at Tony's side, gently turning him onto his back. The first thing he noticed was the painful looking road burn that now covered one third of the unconscious man's forehead. The wound was only barely bleeding but Gibbs knew from his own past unfortunate experience, that road rash could actually be **more** painful than a full out gash! He also knew that Tony had hit the ground with such a force, that his face would also be privy to more colorful swelling and bruising around the scrape.

"Sir, I'll go get the Medics to bring out a stretcher so we can get him off the hot tarmac and into the hangar." the Soldier escorting them quickly offered. Gibbs nodded in agreement and continued his ministrations, checking Tony's pulse he found it weak at best.

He then began lightly tapping his hand against Tony's cheek in an attempt to get the Agent to come around. "Tony, hey can you hear me? Come on DiNozzo snap out of it. . . yeah, thaat's it." he said, breathing a sigh of relief as his Agent's head rolled slightly side to side trying to figure out what just happened and why his head hurt so bad.

"Wha- . . . - Gibbs?" he mumbled as he fought to get his bearings. Ziva and Tim both breathed in their own sighs of relief since they had been taken aback when he fell. It especially affected Ziva since she was forced to realize just how bad off Tony was and just what he had risked - all just to save _her_. She had fooled herself into believing that he was fine, just as he wanted everyone to believe. In the past she would have seen right through that in a second. Her time away from him and all that happened before they parted ways in Israel, had obviously had an affect on her ability to read him and know instantly when he was lying.

"Yeah _wha_- is right DiNozzo! I thought you said '_DiNozzo's don't pass out'_." Gibbs retorted with the slightest of smirks on his browned and tired face.

Tony blinked numerous times as though trying to jump start his foggy brain into gear. "I – I _didn't _pass out Boss." he replied, trying to think fast but his brain moving slower than usual.

"Ohhh, is-zat riight DiNozzo?" Gibbs sarcastically responded.

"Uh - yeah." Tony said as he tried to pull himself slowly up, "I . . . I just - tripped. Must've been knocked out when I hit the ground that's all." he stated as he rubbed his burning forehead, all the while knowing his Boss was too smart to buy that lame excuse.

"Uuh-huh." Gibbs said as he forced the rising man back down using both hands, "Yeah okay Tony - and if I buy that, I suppose you also have some swampland in Florida you could to sell me at a good price." Gibbs laughed - much to the shock of the entire team. Gibbs didn't laugh.

Ziva and McGee exchanged surprised looks - the rare event of a chuckling Gibbs only proved to all of them, that their stoic boss was just as punch drunk as the rest of them at this point.

"Awe c'mon Gibbs, lemme up. Please? I assure you - I'm fiine!" Tony pleaded.

"**No**." came his bosses' curt reply, "Now lay back and just be quiet until they get here with the stretcher. Ya think you can manage that DiNozzo?! After all, you and_ quiet_ don't usually go together."

Tony rolled his eyes - and immediately regretted the action as it seemed even his eyes hurt at this point.

"Oh, and by the way, don't think I am not going to get to the bottom of the discarded syringe I saw in Salim's interrogation room through my scope. It also has not escaped my notice DiNozzo, that you have been favoring your rib cage for one thing, when you thought no one was looking."

Tony gulped in surprise, '_Damn how could I have forgotten about that flippin' scope?!!'_ he thought nervously.

"Oh and the SAME goes to you two - Ziva and McGee!" Gibbs barked, finally alerting **all** of them that they weren't fooling anyone with their attempts to appear 100%, and they especially knew better than to even think they were fooling Gibbs!

Suddenly Tony's peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the stretcher that was now looming in the foreground and he quickly lurched himself up to a fully seated position. He had taken advantage of the fact that Gibbs had also spotted the approaching gurney, causing him to ease his hold on the agent's chest therefore no longer restraining him from rising.

It seemed as though Tony's macho Senior Agent pride had been kicked into full gear – there was no _**way**_ he was going to be carted off on a stretcher like some weakling!

Ziva and Tim were shocked to say the least when Gibbs raised his own hands up in surrender, signaling his stubborn agent that he could do as he pleased. But in reality Gibbs knew full well what was going to happen next - so he simply stood back up to get himself in position, determined to_** catch**_ Tony this time. Gibbs simply acted as though he believed his Agent was better, all the while knowing he was not.

Preparing himself, Gibbs kept his eyes trained on Tony so he would not miss him this time, and potentially add another injury to his growing list.

"See boss," Tony said as he continued rising until he was standing "I told you I'm fi-"

Before he could finish his repetitive uttering of the word _**fine**__, _his eyes rolled back into his head and his knees started to buckle once again. Tony was oblivious, as _this_ time he didn't do a face plant into the hard ground. This time, two pairs of surprisingly strong hands caught him in time to ease him the rest of the way back down. The supporting hands belonged to that of his boss and the young Medic, who - like Gibbs - had gotten into position quickly after seeing the man who just seconds ago was horizontal to the runway, attempted to get up as though nothing happened.

The young Medic had been witness to far too many incidents in his career where injured soldiers or civilians had experienced the same delusion that this man had – the delusion that they were fine – or that their injuries were not as serious. Sometimes it was due to being in shock or being what they called the _'walking wounded_'. Other times it was nothing more than simply a matter of stubborn macho pride.

"On the count of three let's get him up onto the stretcher." the fast acting Medic said to Gibbs as he was getting ready to life Tony's torso up from underneath his arms. Gibbs took his place by grabbing Tony's feet and lower legs. "1 – 2 – 3 up." instructed the Medic - within moments they all arrived inside the Hangar where the medical unit was waiting for them. McGee had placed his arm around Ziva's waist to assist her for the short walk. He noticed that he was having to support more and more of her now featherlight weight as she struggled to stay upright and not end up lying on a stretcher like her former partner. By the time they arrived in the Hangar, a fine sheen of sweat had broken out on her face and neck.

About fifteen minutes later, Gibbs quietly watched as the medical team scurried to get all of them checked out so they could board their flight home. He observed from his place standing against one of the walls after instructing the medical team to take care of his team first and foremost - with he himself getting get checked out last. The plan was to get directly onto the plane once everyone had been given the go ahead. Even with Tony faltering a bit, Gibbs felt sure that they would soon be on there way home.

All three of his agents were now either seated or laying down on cots with IV's running into each of their arms for dehydration. All three of them now conscious, Tony having come back to life again a few minutes after they arrived in the Hangar.

Each of them were quickly assessed with blood being drawn,with the usual vital signs being checked.

_**McGee's condition **_– Dr. Anton Moretti was his Physician and he was **all** business – no bedside manner to speak of. He went directly to work on the exam starting out by cleaning off Tim's face so he could better assess any damage, also reducing risk of infection. He carefully looked at the numerous small cuts and scratches that Tim had received when he had been forced down onto the rough desert sand during the initial ambush of he and his determined partner.

Dr. Williams proceeded to placed butterfly strips to hold a couple of the deeper cuts on his face closed since thankfully, none of them were deep enough for actual sutures. Other than that he had escaped in relatively good shape with the exception of some colorful bruising on his torso and a slight concussion. They would inform Gibbs to wake him periodically for concussion checks during the flight since high altitude sometimes increased the blood pressure in some people. McGee was silent while being tended to, his eyes directed towards the other two cots not far from him, concerned about the well being of his partners, even more so than for his own condition.

_**Ziva's condition **_- Her Medic, a striking young female Doctor named Alyssa Morton, was somewhat taken aback when she spotted all of the still healing bruises around the Israeli's ribcage and back, yellow and slightly green in color, fading as they healed. She also noticed her patient had broken out into a cold sweat and that her pulse was somewhat racing. After palpitating her abdomen she found one spot in particular that was more than tender than anywhere else.

She heard the raven haired beauty gasp sharply when she pressed on it and she had little time to determine whether this issue could wait hours until she arrived in DC – or if this require an overnight stay at a local Hospital. She decided to at least get some quick films of her ribcage before deciding, wishing they had access to a Cat scan unit as well.

_**Tony's condition **_- He was disappointed to see that he had a _**male**_ Physician - jealous of Ziva getting the only female Doc. '_That friggin figures'_ he thought – wondering if Gibbs had anything to do with that arrangement. But as he glanced towards his partner and her equally gorgeous Doc – he started grinning as he allowed his thoughts to stray to rather racy visions of the two beauties involved in a seductive pillow fight.

His Doctor was Dr. Paul Keenan, the Chief Physician in charge of the mobile unit. As he was placing a blood pressure cuff on his patient, he took in the closed eyes and silly grin and wondered if the higher than normal blood pressure reading was due in part to whatever thoughts were putting the goofy grin on the pale man's face. He then recalled his brief discussion with an Agent Gibbs – the man in charge of the disheveled team.

Gibbs had pulled the Physician aside when they first arrived in the hangar, alerting him to Tony's odd behavior and the unknown concoction that had been forcefully injected in his lead agent's arm. A blood sample much to Tony's dismay, was the first task he completed.

Next he quickly cleaned Tony's face & disinfected his forehead, loosely covering the bruised and swelling scrape with an antibiotic cream followed by taping on a thick square of sterile gauze to _keep_ it clean. Next came the routine concussion check since the severe bruising on the man's face indicated numerous blows to the head, not to mention the most recent fall on the tarmac. He found the man to have a substantial concussion meaning Gibbs would have two men to wake periodically during the flight.

As he poked and prodded the pale and sweating man's abdomen, and found as many as 3 potentially fractured ribs. He then ordered an Intern to bring over the portable X-ray unit once they had finished using it on the female agent.

His final step was to ask Tony questions surrounding the obvious injection mark in his right arm, which was slightly bruised from the barbaric way it had been administered. Tony downplayed the incident, telling the Doc that whatever it was - had all but worn off. Realistically however, only the effects of the truth serum had dissipated – his Doctor was quick to point out that Tony's pupils were still obviously dilated and glassy in appearance, not to mention his reflexes were sluggish in response to the small rubber tipped tool that was used to test them – all of this clearly indicating to Dr. Keenan, that some of the drugs were definitely still in his system.

There was one additional problem that concerned the Doctor above all else. None of Tony's injuries, nor the drugs, would explain the agent's rising fever – that at last check was 100.2 – having been discovered during the initial checking of vital signs.

He had no choice but to follow the strict protocols that were put in place – clearly stating that should anyone that was set to leave the Country, exhibited any signs of a potentially infectious disease or illness, they could be detained for further examination and observation. He had to decide in short order, whether he felt that all members of this top notch team, were safe to be released to head back to the States . . . or not.

Gibbs had watched as his team as they were each checked out, having a quick chat with each physician before allowing one of them to complete his own basic exam. He had been informed that most of the test results and X-rays would be completed by the time his check up was complete.

All four of the NCIS team, were all forced to remain on the cots until the I.V.'s were depleted. About 20 minutes after the exams were completed, Dr. Keenan approached Gibbs to give him the full report – knowing he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_Sorry to leave you hanging at this pt. No, not really – I kind of like cliffies. Pls keep reviewing to let me know if you still like the direction of the story since I know I am adding stuff at this point, that wasn't part of the episode. I just didn't like how treatment of all of their injuries & such were left out of the show – so I thought I would take some liberties and make it even more angsty.__I want to tell you where the next chapter is heading, but that would pretty much ruin the whole 'cliffie' idea. So, I will try to update faster so you don't have to wait a whole week for update this time._


	4. Unexpected Layover

_Thank you all for your feedback and reviews! Pls don't worry about a grammatical error here and there – it's only due to rushing to post for you. I will proof read this again later._

_**Quick note to those who don't understand why Tony's condition seems worse than Ziva's so far in my story.** I love you all for reviewing good or bad – but here is what you need to remember:_

**~~~~ As for why my fic is more focused on ****Tony's**** health: **From the start of this story I said there were already too many Ziva-centric TOC episode based fan fics - so mine was going to be **Tony-centric**.

**~~~~ In the premiere -** it was obvious that the worst of Ziva's injuries had already healed for the most part, other than weakness from being malnourished & dehydrated. If she had been drugged it would have (in my opinion), been during the first months of her capture when they first tried to obtain info and even then she has more training in terrorist tactics than Tony does.

**~~~~ Tony's injuries** and injection of drugs, were all **recent** over a matter of hours before this story takes place.

So please Ziva worshipers, you have to keep reading and let me finish the story because I am not done with EITHER of them so just hang in there. :-) I think everyone will be happy with both the Ziva **and** the Tony H/C. _**Now on with the story . . .**_

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_**Final Scene from Previous Fic-isode: **__(Fic-isode is my new word which is cross between Fanfic and Episode since my fic is based on an actual epi. Makes sense, right?)_

_. . . Gibbs had watched as his team as they were each checked out, having a quick chat with each physician before allowing one of them to complete his own basic exam. He had been informed that most of the test results and X-rays would be completed by the time his check up was complete._

_All four of the NCIS team, were all forced to remain on the cots until the I.V.'s were depleted. About 20 minutes after the exams were completed, Dr. Keenan approached Gibbs to give him the full report – knowing he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear._

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter IV**

Gibbs was getting impatient now, more than ready to just gather his exhausted team, board the awaiting plane and get them all home. He saw the Chief Medic walking towards him and quickly stood up. "Dr. Keenan," Gibbs greeted him, reaching out to shake the man's hand, "Thank you for checking all of us out today. I was especially concerned with Ziva, she was held captive for months. I assume you are hear to give me an update on everyone."

"Yes, thank you Agent Gibbs. From what I heard about the success of this recovery mission – sounds like you and your team pulled off an amazing feat." The Physician commented.

"Yes that they did. I am very proud of them - what they did out there was risky and a long shot at best. I plan to put both Agent DiNozzo and Agent McGee in for a commendation - they are both outstanding Field Agents. As was Ms. David so we are eager to get her back home where she belongs."

"Yes, well, let me get right into how your team is faring, I appreciate your patience as we waited for tox screens and other test results. I am afraid the news isn't all good Agent Gibbs, in fact, I don't think you are going to like what I have to tell you." Gibbs eyes slightly widened in surprise, not expecting to hear what he had just been told. "Look Dr. Keenan, whatever it is, I wish you would just spit it out because we have a plane to board." then he detected the rather tense nature of the Physician's body language and added,

"Or – don't we?" he asked as his mind caught up with him – reading between the lines to what the Doctor _wasn't_ saying.

"Yes well, I am getting to that. Now I want to preface this by letting you know that at the moment, no one's health is critical by any means, which is very good. But as you know per protocol, we have to test for any infectious diseases before allowing anyone to leave the Country to go back to the US."

"Yes, Doctor please – if you could just get to the point." Gibbs said firmly, hoping the worry and panic in his voice wasn't as obvious as _he_ thought it sounded.

"Okay, well it's about Agent DiNozzo and Officer David. First, in regard to Agent Anthony DiNozzo, unfortunately he was sporting a low grade fever when he got here that has since risen, albeit very slightly thus far, but it's definitely going in the wrong direction of where we _want_ it to go. As for Agent Ziva David - " Gibbs decided not to correct the man, but technically Ziva was basically a civilian in a sense at this point.

"Though she made a valiant attempt to _act _fine, we can't ignore the fact that she is experiencing pain on the lower left quadrant of her abdominal wall -"

"Doc – English please." Gibbs butted in.

"Understood. We may, ~ _pause ~_ well, we may have to remove her spleen."

Gibbs stood there, staring. He usually was prepared for any news, all the time. Today however, he was exhausted from their mission and hours without sleep – and the months of worry over Ziva, and this mission, had put him off guard somewhat. "What?! Why, what did they do to her?!" he said, raising his voice and forgetting all about Tony's condition.

"Well, it looks like she has healed from the brunt of what I can tell, were rather severe beatings that must have taken place about 2 months ago - judging by the stages of the healing bruises I found. Her X-rays show some recently fractured ribs that have also already started to heal. The lucky thing is that they healed correctly so she won't need to have them re-broken and taped. But the spleen is a sensitive organ and sometimes it cannot sustain itself after receiving severe trauma such as a kick to the side, or a well aimed fist." he explained.

Gibbs' blood was nearing boiling point. He wished he could go back and shoot Salim again just for satisfaction. '_That bastard!',_ he thought, but knowing he had to pull it together before going with the Doctor to give the news to the team – he turned toward Dr. Keenan.

"So, is that it or is there more?"

"I'm afraid there's more." he looked down at the chart full of test results and notes for a minute before he continued.

" Agent DiNozzo's blood tests showed a couple of things – for one, there are still a myriad of drugs still coursing through his system, we don't have sophisticated enough equipment to determine every individual drug he was injected with but it had to be a very high dose for it to still be showing up in his blood test. We did find Sodium Pentothal, or truth serum if you will, in his blood as well.

But the levels are low enough at this point, that the side effects should have subsided for the most part. However, he may still experience the occasional urge to talk truthfully in random bursts as it works it way out of his system altogether. Without knowing the exact combination of the other drugs that were detected, only time will tell if he will suffer any more ill side effects or problems from those. The IV will help flush them through his system. We gave both he and Ms. David a second IV with added Antibiotics as precautionary measures."

The last sentence causing Gibbs' to pause. "So I understand David but – was Tony was given antibiotics due to the fever?"

"Well yes but – it's more related to what is _causing_ his rising fever, rather than due to the fever in and of itself." the Doctor explained, "I'm afraid Agent DiNozzo's blood test results confirmed my initial suspicions – and because of this, your entire team including yourself, must be detained and transported to our Medical facility about an hour from here in a safe zone. I'm sorry but Agent McGee, David and yourself will all be placed into quarantine for the next 24 hrs – until we can determine if any one else has been infected."

Gibbs' face visibly blanched upon hearing that last part of the Doctor's report, "Illness?! Exactly what type of illness has my Agent _**contracted**_ Dr. Keenan?!" he asked without mincing words. His worry and fear coming out in the form of anger more so than anything else, but only because getting angry, was how he dealt with _everything_.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry Agent Gibbs -" . . .

. . . "- your Agent has been infected with . . . _Diphtheria_."

**_To Be Continued . . ._**

_Okay you HAVE to review and tell me what you think?! I am actually addicted to my own story haha - but that means more updates for you! _

_**In The Next Chapter**__ - We find out Salim was a carrier of the disease. Will Ziva or Tim get it too? Will Gibbs since he had his hands on Tony a LOT! Or, will Tony be the only victim due to his permanently damaged immune system (from the Plague)? You will just have to keep reading to see – the answer may surprise you!_

"


	5. The Elephant In The Room

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_**Final Scene From The Previous Fic-i-sode . . .**_

_Gibbs' face visibly blanched upon hearing that last part of the Doctor's report, "Illness? Exactly what type of illness has my Agent __**contracted**__ Dr. Keenan?" he asked without mincing words. His worry and fear coming out in the form of anger more so than anything else, but only because getting angry, was how he dealt with everything._

"_Oh yes, I'm sorry Agent Gibbs -" . . ._

_. . . "- your Agent will require more test for a firm diagnosis, but so far we have enough reason to believe that he may have contracted . . . Diphtheria." _

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**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter V**

**. . . Diphtheria.**" the Doctor had said.

"I'm very sorry to have to deliver this kind of news to you Agent Gibbs," he continued, "I know how eager you all were to get back to the States." he paused, giving the silver haired Marine a chance to ask any questions and to absorb the news.

Gibbs mind didn't even register the last sentence the physician had just uttered about the flight home – in fact he hadn't heard anything past that one dismal word . . . _Diphtheria . _. . but just what did that mean for Tony? Or the rest of them for that matter.

How? When? He was searching his fatigued brain for answers – mentally head slapping himself as if that would somehow jump start his tired brain. Once he felt he could formulate his slightly panicked thoughts into any type coherent sentence, he finally spoke. "What about the others?" he asked, needing to first obtain all the facts so he could then determine the appropriate action.

"So far no one else is showing any symptoms, and your blood test as well as the test results from your other two agents didn't show any cause for concern. But since the incubation period can last up to 3 days – I'm afraid that _**all**_ of you will have to be detained and placed under quarantine until we can run more tests and monitor all of you for symptoms." he alerted the tired Marine.

"Exactly what _**are**_ the symptoms Doc? I want to know just what my agent is going to be forced to suffer through – or God forbid any one of us."

"I would rather wait and go over all of that with you and your team together if that's alright with you." Keenan answered, "but before we do that, I do have a few questions for you in regard to Agent DiNozzo if you don't mind."

"Yes, of course." answered a shell shocked Gibbs. "In just a second - first I have one more question for you Doc - before we talk about Tony. Can you tell me what steps are being taken to contain this? I assume we should be wearing surgical masks to prevent transmittal of the contagions, correct?"

"Well yes - and no. Yes you _**will**_ need to don masks before you go near your Senior Agent, but no - you don't need to be wearing one right now. You only need to protect yourselves from him until the end of the contagious stage of the illness had passed – we know that none of _you _are the carrier of this bacteria or this would have happened well before this trip, we will need to discuss where you think he may have contracted this from, or more importantly, from _**whom**_ - since that person will also need to be placed under quarantine."

"Well, if my calculations are correct Doctor, then the person that I believe to have been the carrier - is already dead." Gibbs admitted, catching the physician off guard.

"Well if that _**is **_the case, then I hope your assumptions of him being the carrier _**are**_ correct Agent Gibbs - then we can at least be rest assured that this won't become a huge outbreak and may be contained to just your team - and possibly a couple of the Soldiers whom assisted all of you. But for now since time if of the essence and I need to get you all into quarantine, perhaps we should get moving and then we can discuss everything in more detail once we are en route to the Hospital. Agreed?"

Gibbs quickly nodded in agreement as the men started moving towards where the rest of Gibbs team awaited.

"More importantly Agent Gibbs, I need get your Agent DiNozzo to the facility quickly so we can begin to administer the medications that he needs." he then proceeded to explain to the ailing man's boss how diphtheria attacked the body by creating it's own toxin within the infected person - ". . . - to counteract that toxin, we have what is called quite simply, a diphtheria anti-toxin – which also serves to slow the progression of the disease. The sooner we administer that, the faster we can start to relief your Agent's discomfort."

"You don't have any of that _**here**_?" Gibbs asked firmly, not pleased at all in finding this out so far into the conversation.

"No but you must understand - these mobile units are limited as to what we can bring, hence the mobility factor – naturally we just can't foresee every potential condition we may be up against – especially in regard to rare infections such as this one. Our capacity is limited to hold the most critical supplies such as life saving equipment, morphine, IV kits, small blood supply for transfusions - well, you get the picture."

"Okay, okay I get it. Now what did you want to ask me about DiNo - Tony?" he asked, realizing that right now he was concerned about Tony the _**man - **_his surrogate Son, and not just DiNozzo the _**agent.**_

"Have you noticed if your Senior Agent been feeling run down at all lately - I mean, more so than _usual_? Excluding the obvious exhaustion from this recent mission of course."

"Well . . " Gibbs paused, thinking back to Tony's despondent body language that began right after hearing of Ziva's alleged death and that continued to decline in the months that followed, "Not _**physically**_ per say. I would say _**emotionally **_drained might be a better description. But I think I see where you are going with this – you want to know why he was infected so easily even though he received the same immunizations that we all had. Correct?"

Keenan just nodded since they were fast approaching the other agents.

"Okay, well Doc - a few years back Tony barely survived a serious bout of Pneumonic Plague, the Doctors warned us that his immune system was so compromised that he would always be more susceptible to illnesses, especially where his respiratory system was concerned. To be honest Doctor, it makes me heartsick to think of him having to endure something like that again."

Dr. Keenan raised his eyebrows at what he had just been told, stopping mid step and reaching out to halt Gibbs as well. "Wait a minute - did you just say Pneumonic Plague? Just how the hell did he come into contact with _that_ archaic illness?" he inquired..

"It's a long story Doc, but for now let's just say it was an intentional attack suffered in the line of duty and leave it at that. But that could explain why Tony's sick even though he was given the same vaccines that we all had. Well, combined with his being in very close proximity to the carrier, longer than anyone."

"Well it's tough to say with any certainty, but yes – those factors _**are**_ significant. There is also a surprising number of cases of people who's body chemistry seemed to be somewhat_ resistant _to the vaccine. But regardless Agent Gibbs, I do feel quite positive about your man's prognosis – especially considering that we are catching Agent DiNozzo's symptoms in the earliest stages and that _alone _will help us significantly reduce the severity and the duration of his illness ."

"In fact," the Doctor continued as they had resumed walking and were a few feet from their destination, "once the incubation time has passed, barring no unforeseen complications - I am almost certain you will _**all**_ be able to fly home in about 3-4 day's time and continue any neccessary treatments there." his words reassuring Gibbs.

Gibbs reached out to shake the Doctor's hand as a show of thanks and mutual respect – it was time to give everyone else the news and after which things would move quickly as they headed to the safe zone medical facility. On the way, Gibbs would contact Ducky, Abby and Vance using a satellite phone before facing the looming quarantine and tests that lay ahead for all of them.

It didn't take long for the lead agent to notice that everything had been prepped to prevent the spreading of the illness as best they could - the area of the hangar that temporarily housed the medical unit and cots, had been cleared of all non-essential personnel, while those who remained were already wearing the precautionary masks and doing their best to prep for the unexpected on-site quarantine. Gibbs could see that the cots had been repositioned a little so that Tony was moved a little further from Ziva and McGee, but not enough to be obvious and risk raising their suspicions.

All three agents were now sporting surgical masks of their own to cover their mouths and noses – having only been informed that the Doctor was coming shortly to explain. Gibbs noticed the signs of sheer exhaustion that were more evident on all of their faces than he had noticed before. He was proud of them all.

McGee was seated upright on his cot, while Ziva, who still looked like death warmed over, had allowed herself to stay laying down on her side – a sure sign that she was either emotionally defeated, or physically depleted.

Gibbs then looked over to Tony's cot – watching as the shaky agent kept attempting to sit up ever since he first spotted his boss walking towards them. But he was halted mid-way by a masked female Nurse, a cute young brunette with olive skin that reminded Gibbs of the same glowing tone that Ziva's skin usually took on when she wasn't so pale like she was right now. The Nurse kept trying to gently press the overzealous agent's shoulders back down trying to get him to remain horizontal and stop trying to keep getting up. All three of their heads turned as their boss approached with the main Doctor.

Gibbs had pondered whether to talk to Tony alone, mono e mono – and letting the Doctor tell the other two. But then he decided they should be informed together since they were after all, a _**team – **_so therefore he thought, they would handlethis new challenge in the same cohesive manner - together as a team.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked - though much softer than his usual holler. "Lay back and stop fighting against the Nurse!" he bellowed, but the outburst was caused by worry and a sinking feeling deep within his gut – rather than by actual anger. As soon as he laid eyes upon Tony, he felt sick in knowing what lay ahead for the unsuspecting man – a man who was as close to a Son as he could _ever _have wished for.

Tony obeyed somewhat as he laid back, but still too stubborn and macho to lay all the way down – he reclined half way down staying propped up on his elbows on the cot. "Oh hey boss . . . uh, so what gives?" he asked, slight lines of worry starting to creep up on his pale face, "What's with the masks and why do I suddenly feel like there's an elephant in the room?" he asked, not missing the way Ziva looked at him , raising her eyebrows as she struggled to understand yet another one of those stupid American idioms that made **no** sense to her whatsoever.

"Yeah, Zi – trust me, don't even try to figure that one out!" he teased.

"Well Tony, if I could get ya to stop talking for five minutes, I'd tell ya! And for Pete's sake, lay back down before I force you back down myself! And just so you know - you** still **look like crap." Gibbs stated in their usual friendly banter - trying to lighten the mood with before giving them the news. Dr. K was not pleased with the Lead Agent's derogatory comments towards his agent, but not knowing the dynamics of the team, he just kept his mouth shut.

In reality, Gibbs knew the Doctor would flinch at his words but he also knew enough about Tony to know that whenever Gibbs needed him to fight back, whether it be to make it through being framed for murder, or getting through the Plague alive - or even surviving after being told of Ziva's alleged death, Gibbs knew that Tony would bend over backward to regain his bosses' affection and approval just like he had tried to get from his real Father as a child, but never succeeded in getting.

Gibbs knew the best way to get Tony fighting back was to make him think that he was or already had let his boss down somehow, that always made Tony push that much harder to please and impress Gibbs, and make him proud. Tony knew that if he went overboard to do whatever his boss demanded, that he would eventually receive one of those rare and cherished compliments that came so few and far between that it made them more special than if they were handed out daily! By telling Tony he looked like crap, he knew Tony would think he was disappointed in him so, even though that was not the case in Gibbs' mind. But none the less, it would cause Tony to strive to rectify the situation and fight to get better. The last thing Tony wanted was to appear weak in his bosses' eyes.

"Gee thanks boss, ya sure know how to kick a man when he's down." Tony teased back, laying back down with an exaggerated **hrrummph **– though he was secretly relieved at Gibbs' command since his arms had started shaking from the effort it took to hold himself up.

In hopes of appearing stronger and healthier than he actually felt, he continued the "Well I may _**look**_ like crap but I assure you, I'm fi-ine. I suppose I _could _use some sleep and maybe an air conditioner, but other than that . . . - so what's going on? Maybe your gut is rubbing off on me but I get the distinct feeling that we're not going to like what you have to say." he stated.

McGee had caught onto the same changes that Tony had alluded to. Changes in the behavior of the staff as well as a sudden hustle and bustle as things were rearranged and masks were handed out to everyone. So Tim decided to add his own questions to the mix, "Boss? Tony's right, it does seem like there has been an obvious uh . . _. shift_ in the atmosphere around here – what is going on? Shouldn't we be boarding our flight by now?" he asked, his own nervousness betrayed by his slightly shaking voice.

Gibbs shifted uncomfortably, there was a new tightness in his stomach caused by the not so good news he was about to tell them. "Okay okay Tim, please – one question at a time, I'm not one of your computers." he replied.

"_**Uh-oh"**_ both Ziva and Tony said in unison – as Tony then explained "Uh, Timmy - he just called you _**Tim**__** -**_ and that can only mean one thing McClueless. . . it means he has some very bad news to give us – right boss?"

Gibbs shifted uncomfortably in his seat, for once Tony was right he thought – bad news it was indeed.

"Alright alright pipe down – all of you! Look, since you all like to hear things straight up - not sugar coated – that is just what I am gonna give you. I've just been informed that we may all have been exposed to a highly contagious disease which is going to require a few days in quarantine which means we will not be flying home tonight, I'm sorry." then pausing to take a deep breath since he had been holding it in, he decided to lay it all out on the table - "At this point only one of us is exhibiting any clear symptoms of the illness and Tony?" he said as he made sure he was looking at his agent eye to eye.

"I'm sorry Tony, but - . . . I'm afraid it's you."

_**To Be Continued . . .**_


	6. The Somber Debreifing

**A/N **– Please make note that NONE of what I describe in this chapter in regard to Saleem's symptoms etc, is based on 100% fact – but it works for the story so pls don't send me reviews correcting any of it. Hehe - thanks! Same goes with the live virus being possibly in the syringe. I don't want to give anything else away so just assume a lot of this is not factual but works for the sake of the story..

**SORRY for delay - but this is a super LONG chapter to make up for it! Fowl Language alert – some minor cussing is in this chapter. Sorry if offensive to anyone.**

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_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth . . .**_

_I've just been informed that we may all have been exposed to a highly contagious disease which is going to require a few days in quarantine which means we will not be flying home tonight, I'm sorry." then pausing to take a deep breath since he had been holding it in, he decided to lay it all out on the table - "At this point only one of us is exhibiting any clear symptoms of the illness and Tony?" he said as he made sure he was looking at his agent eye to eye._

"_I'm sorry Tony, but I'm afraid it's you."_

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**Consequences Of The Truth **

**Chapter VI**

_**Inside Triage Area – everyone now sporting surgical face masks to cover their nose and mouth . . .**_

Stunned wasn't a strong enough word to describe the look on Tony's face or the feeling of shock that was taking over his drugged and tired mind, as he struggled to let his bosses' words sink in. He felt his cheek visibly twitch as he fought to keep the now forced smile on his face from sliding off as he also tried to think of something clever or funny to say.

Something – hell **anything** - to erase the uncomfortable silence that had just crept in and taken over the room. To him, the words 'comfortable silence' was pretty much an oxymoron!

As the _s__**enior **_agent of the trio, Tony had always felt it was his responsibility to keep the mood light in the office and in the field. Their job was not an easy one by any means, dealing with dead body after dead body, victim after victim, constantly surrounded by death, murder, criminals and trials. That kind of lifestyle could easily wear down even the strongest person in short order.

And now, having just come off of an already stressful year and on **top** of that, the past two days had left them all battered, exhausted, dehydrated– so Tony felt it was even more important than ever that he find a way keep the team's morale from sinking any lower than it had already become. It had been bad enough when they thought Ziva had died, now finding her alive was proving to be bittersweet as it was now his own life that may be in jeopardy.

He forced his mind back to the bombshell his boss had just dropped, and at a moment in time when had had thought the worst of this entire awful year was finally over. A year of dealing with a mess of Mossad related incidents, starting with Rivkin's arrival and ending with Saleem's vengeful demise.

What had Gibbs just said about not sugar coating news for them because he they preferred it THAT WAY?!

He wasn't sure how much time had gone by since his boss made when he finally felt composed enough to speak and was able to find his voice. He felt like hours had passed although in reality it had only been a minute or so.

"Uh . . . gee boss - ya know a _little _sugar coating now and then is not a _bad_ thing! Seriously – I mean, even giving us a good news/bad news scenario would have been bett-" he was rambling as he always did when something made him feel uncomfortable, or when he wanted to shift the focus away from himself, knowing full well that his teammates were probably already worrying.

Gibbs knew that it was also Tony's unique way of dealing with bad news – almost going into a state of shock and denial by rambling incessantly.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs rather calmly interrupted him.

"Uh, shutting it boss." Tony replied.

Ziva and McGee were also on the verge of asking a million questions, as Gibbs noticed both agents looking towards their Senior partner with renewed concern. He also noticed how Ziva favored the left side of her abdomen, keeping her hand pressed tightly against her side while the lightest sheen of sweat was beginning pepper her all too pale face.

When Gibbs first came into the triage area, Tony had still been sitting partially upright -half propped up by his elbows, but now, weighed down by the announcement he dropped back down to a fully reclined position on his cot - almost as if finally accepting his fate and surrendering to it in defeat.

As he let his head drop sluggishly back down onto his pillow, he closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh of frustration as he tried not to think about what lay ahead. '_Was he strong enough to go through that kind of illness again'_, he thought? '_did he have the energy to even try_?'

"Wait!" Tony sat back up half way, "How the hell were we exposed to _**that**_?!!" he asked in a more frantic sounding voice than he had planned.

Gibbs answered his frazzled agent quickly, "Tony, the Doctor is going to explain that shortly but it does look like Saleem was either a carrier of the disease, or possibly worse."

"Worse?! Whaddaya mean, or _**worse?**_!" Tony continued his grilling.

Then seeing his Senior Agent start to open his mouth to ask more questions Gibbs just held his hand up to alert him to stop. "Tony, hold onto that question for a minute will ya? Just let the Doctor explain a few things and trust me, we will get to that."

_The Doctor took that as his cue and took over the floor __**"**_Right now Mr/ DiNozzo is the only one exhibiting any symptoms, and even though presently none of the rest of you exhibit any signs or symptoms of the illness, I must insist on the masks in case you haven't been exposed yet – we certainly don't want you to now be infected by your teammate. Until one is showing outright symptoms, one is not considered contagious. It's only after a person starts to show obvious signs such as fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, etc. that they can pass this along to others. You will all be transported to a nearby medical facility located in one of our safe zones. You will then be placed in quarantine isolation where we can run further tests and monitor symptoms. I am almost certain that based on Tony's fever and other symptoms, he would have had to have been infected at some point within the last 48 hours. That makes getting you all to the facility soon, that much more important**.**_**"**_

"He needs to be started on a very specific antiboiotic/antitoxin that we do not have stocked in the mobile triage unit. He needs to begin this treatment sooner rather than later for the medication to have it's fullest effect. This illness can cause the body to create a toxin of sorts that can damage the heart among other things, this anti-toxin has been proven to reduce the severity of the symptoms and the duration of the illness as well, while also better protecting the heart from damage." He continued.

"Once the two day incubation period is over and as long as no one presents any appearance or . . ._worsening -_ of symptoms " he said, pausing to glance compassionately in Tony's direction before continuing, "Then you all should be able to leave shortly thereafter."

Gibbs hadn't taken his eyes off of Tony, having not had time to really look him over since the rescue. He didn't like what he was seeing. Tony was pale, shaky and more agitated than was normal for him. He was also now laying flat on his back almost resigning himself to his new fate.

The Doctor added, "Now given the fact that we don't have much time before we need to leave, I can allow each of you** one **question for now and then we can discuss this further on the way to our next destination. " Gibbs took the initiative to get the ball rolling on the questions and hollered towards one agent to ask his question so they could then focus on getting Tony to the anti-toxin he needed.

"**McGee**." he said firmly, nodding in Tim's direction to indicate that he was first to ask a question.

"Boss, how could this even be happening – I mean being exposed and all?!" Tim asked, unaware he had asked a second question in his haste. "We all had our immunizations before leaving DC, yet Tony is already showing symptoms?!" naturally directing his questions and anger to Gibbs. His boss however, simply nodded his head in the direction of the physician signaling him to respond.

"Yes, well that is correct Agent McGee but what you don't know is that there have been many cases where some people were simply tolerant to the vaccine for whatever reason, hence leaving them less protected. While another factor to consider, is that Agent DiNozzo is the _only_ one out of all of you to have an immune system that was permanently compromised from the bout with Y. Pestis - worsened by the fact that in the past 2 days – he was drugged, injured, dehydrated and seriously deprived of sleep. I know that all three of you suffered from similar treatment but it's the combination of these other factors along with the plague damage that put Agent DiNozzo at higher risk."

Gibbs rubbed his hand up over his forehead and back through his hair as his memory flashed back to seeing his Senior Agent gagging from the fluids that were drowning him from the inside. He forced himself to shake off the horrifying flashback and listened as the Doctor continued.

Dr. Keenan then began to address the part of McGee's question pertaining to how they had been exposed in the first place.

"In answer to your exposure question – both Agent Gibbs and I are in agreement that it is highly likely that the leader of the terrorist cell, Saleem Ulman is the only person you could have contracted this disease from since for the most part he was the only one you had contact with over the past 2 days.

There are several ways he could have managed to infect any one of you. One being that he was simply an unknowing carrier of the disease and even though carriers do not typically exhibit actual symptoms of the disease, there have been some cases where they _**do**_ have symptoms though they never succumb fully to the illness.

Another theory is that he could have somehow mixed some of the live virus into the unknown concoction that was injected into Agent DiNozzo. Some good news for you is that we do have the syringe and the vial that Saleem used on you Tony, so we will be able to confirm or rule out this theory shortly. One of the Soldiers involved in your rescue had been instructed by your boss here, to go in and retrieve that paraphernalia along with the corpse of Saleem himself. That soldier is already in isolation as is the body. This theory also seems a bit unlikely since it's extremely difficult to keep that kind of virus or bacteria alive and fresh so to speak, but it can be done."

Before he could continue Ziva jumped to ask her own question "But Doctor, if that is the case then I too should be infected. I had even longer exposure to . . . to Saleem and I also was injected with one of his truth concoctions, granted it's been a few weeks since they have tried that on me." she swallowed uncomfortably, feeling nauseated by even having to say the evil terrorist's name out loud and in speaking of the barbaric treatment she had suffered through.

"Yes of course Miss David, and we are certainly going to monitor you closely and run more tests to see what is going on. The key differentiator between your exposure to Saleem is that, at least from what I understand, during the past elsewhere on the compound, yes?."

Ziva nodded sluggishly.

´"Then at the time you _were _finally brought into the room - at the time he would have been the most contagious, you had a hood over your head for part of that and only a couple minutes of direct contact with the infected man. Still as I said earlier, that could have been enough to infect you as well so we will be monitoring you for that. Agent DiNozzo was certainly the one _most_ exposed to the Saleem during that contagious stage and that was determined by what Agent Gibbs said he had observed through his scope when he was monitoring your situation and waiting for the opportunity to take the terrorist out. Based on that intel, it does sound to me like the terrorist may actually have been getting sicker by the hour. His excessive thirst causing him to drink more of that caffeinated beverage that led NCIS to him, his glassy eyes, the sweat building on his face but not as much on his chest or armpit regions which is normally from fever, we are considering the fact that the terrorist, Saleem, may very well have _**planned**_ this infection on purpose."

All three agent's eyes opened in shock. It was the Plague experience all over again if that theory turned out to be true. They all sat in stunned silence waiting to hear more.

Dr. Kennan continued, "As you all know, terrorists are trained from childhood to give their own lives for whatever cause they believe in – suicide bombings are only ONE example of that. You all had a first hand experience with bio-terrorism and know that it **is** possible to infect someone with any illness such as this one which could very well be what Saleem has done." All of the agents and Gibbs' ears perked up in curiosity as the Dr. continued.

"It is entirely possible that this Saleem - gave himself an injection of the live virus so that he would be infected and contagious within hours of receiving it. Or he may have had someone else give it to him – but either way, he could have timed it so that he was showing his most contagious symptoms just prior to his attempts to extract information from Tony, and putting the Senior Agent . That way he could be sure that he passed the illness on to him rather than risk having the virus in the syringe die from the heat and not do it's job."

Gibbs hadn't had time to inform his team that Dr. Keenan had previous training and experience in Forensic Science just like Abby. This past experience made him a tremendous asset in helping to determine what went down here in Africa – especially when the team was without Abby and Ducky – or at least for the time being.

"Miss David, I don't mean to imply that you are out of the woods by any means, in fact you may be right in that you could be just as much at risk in contracting this virus as Tony was due to your own lengthy exposure to Saleem as well. But there are two factors that may very well have protected you. One being the fact that he wasn't most likely contagious until yesterday and two being the hood they placed over your head and face during his most contagious stages, that may have acted as a barrier to protect you, where as Tony was completely exposed to Saleem and would have been unable to avoid any of the man's sweat or bits of saliva from when he was shouted at, or even contact with the man's hands when he struck him."

"However, having said that - you are also obviously weakened physically from your lengthy captivity so that is another concern since you would be weaker than usual and more susceptible to any viruses, germs, etc. I will be recommending, or rather – demanding - that all of you receive further testing and monitored very closely for any signs or active symptoms for at least the next 48 hrs as well."

Ziva then chose to ignore Gibbs' limit of them asking only one question, she figured he wasn't technically her boss anymore at this point, in fact she didn't know what she was to him now. "Dr. Keenan, exactly what are the rest of the possible symptoms of this . . . this _dip-cereal_ thing you keep referring to?" she said, butchering the name of the disease as she also fought to keep her eyes from drooping with exhaustion.

She glanced towards Tony's cot as she spoke, her previous hostility towards her partner dissipating as she really looked at him closely for the first time since they arrived here.

She was just now taking note of his sweating, pale form, his long fingers that he wasn't even aware were rubbing at his throat as though it were sore, and realizing he was much thinner now than when she had last seen him in Israel. She knew enough about the sensitive man, to know that the loss of weight most likely had more to do with her disappearance, than it did from this sudden illness.

Tony rolled his eyes at her butchered attempt to say _Diphtheria_ – truth be told he had actually _missed_ correcting her constant mistaken attempts at English cliché's and idioms. Only this time, he found himself too exhausted and weary to correct her himself.

"It is pronounced **dip-theer-ee-a** , my good woman, but that _**is**_ a very good question." The Doctor answered her while she continued her silent head to toe observation of Tony's all too quiet form, something that did not escape the Doctor's notice –** or** that of Gibbs.

"I will run through the primary symptoms as soon as we are enroute to the facility, right now I don't want to let any more time go by since we have already been here for about 5 minutes longer than I had planned.

Tony then could barely be heard as he muttered under his breath, "Why the hell am I always the lucky son of a bitch to end up sick?!" he grumbled. Gibbs and his insanely good hearing heard every word and quickly realized that Tony was, as usual, blaming himself for being infected again. So he took that moment to offer his own unique style of comfort, mainly trying to get his Senior Agent to see that it's not his fault in any way.

"Tony - Saleem was right up in your face on _**more**_ than one occasion - I saw enough through my damn scope to know that much! This is not your fault nor is this something you could have prevented or avoided!" Ziva and Tim watched the interaction now seeing what Gibbs had realized before they had, Tony was blaming himself.

Upon hearing Gibbs mention his name, Tony who was half ass listening up to that point, finally turned towards his boss to respond. "Uh-huh, yeah." he said, still somewhat in shock at how quickly the events of this short mission had somehow spiraled into a more Southbound direction. Gibbs immediately noticed the distraught look on Tony's face and then softened his voice before responding.

"You alright Tony?" Gibbs asked with more concern than Ziva or McGee had ever actually witnessed him expressing.

"Uh-huh, yeah – I'm okay. . . actually - no. No, I'm not okay!" He suddenly shifted gears as adrenaline surged through his body, causing what was left of the truth serum portion of the drug in his system, to affect him once again just as Saleem had warned him of. Saleem had also told him it would be more painful if he fought against it and allowed his adrenaline to spike, so now on top of anger, the pain was becoming borderline severe and only adding fuel to the fire as he was once again unable to stop his mouth to to blurt out everything that was on his mind, even though he felt like hundreds of tiny razor sharp spikes were stabbing into his throat with every word.

"I'm sorry that I can't just sit back and accept this news as well as all of you seem to be!" he continued with his rant, " I mean that bastard is dead - as he _**deserves**_ to be one hundred times over! Yet somehow he is _**still**_ managing to cause us more pain and suffering! _**Now**_ - you tell me the son of a bitch may have _purposely _injected this bacteria thing into his own body intent on inflicting even _**more **_suffering upon us!! But then again, we all know very well how these trained killers work– sorry Ziva – so I suppose we shouldn't be shocked that they somehow found a way to MAKE Mister Sa-leeem a damn carrier!"

Gibbs couldn't help but see the clear signs that Tony was starting to falter physically – yet he could also completely understand the raw emotion he was now feeling. He didn't know much about the drugs Tony had been given - _**yet**_ - but what he did know, was that his Agent would _never _give into his own anger or admit to his worsening health in front of his own peers unless some kind of messed up drug was behind it.

This brought Gibbs up on his feet determined to get things moving and get them all where they needed to go. He wanted to offer some words to ease everyone's minds since he knew they had already been through hell. Each member of his team turned to look at him upon seeing him rise, waiting to hear his orders.

"Listen up! Now Dr. Keenan feels that we caught the illness at the earliest stages and that this should drastically reduce the duration of Tony's or anyone else's sickness – and help reduce the amount of any suffering. Now David, McGee – I want you to go with the Doctor now and he will get you prepped and taken to the chopper that is taking us to the medical facility. I just want a word with Tony and we will follow shortly.

Tim and Ziva took one last empathetic glance towards their friend and then looked at each other with fear and worry evident in both of their eyes. They disappeared through the hangar door along with Dr. Keenan.

Gibbs turned to Tony who was now resting back with his eyes closed, worn out further by his own rant – the adrenaline now going back down to a somewhat even level. "Tony, now listen to me. I asked the other to leave because I knew you would never admit how you were feeling in front of your teammates. It's just you and me so spill!" Gibbs ordered.

"What you you want to hear Gibbs?!" Tony's eyes flashed open, anger still glowing in his green orbs, "Huh?! Do you want me to say that I feel like shit?! That I am pissed off and want to go back and strangle the dead corpse of that damn terrorist asshole?! Huh?! Is that what you want from me?!" he stopped, sweat now far more evident on his pale face. Signs of exhaustion and defeat were obvious in his body language as his continued rant only caused to drag him further down. The adrenaline still reaking havoc on his drugged mind and body.

"Tony. You finished?" Gibbs asked in his usual calm manner.

Tony replied, running his hand across the exposed portion of his masked face, mainly to wipe the sweat that was threatening to start dripping off him, realizing his fever had risen a little bit higher in the past ten minutes. "Yeah, I'm finished." he replied to his boss in a slightly dejected tone.

"Good now – can we get you where we need to get you to fight this damn thing and get you all home?" Gibbs asked, still allowing his agent to relish in his rare show of affection and understanding. Also knowing he needed to help the distraught man fight another serious illness – again!

"Yeah." Tony replied, too wiped out from his rampage to say anything more. Though he now sported a smile under his mask unbeknown to his boss, as he realized that the Father like figure in front of him cared about him more than he would come right out and admit, but through whose words, along with the caring look evident in his blue eyes, completely gave him away.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

**Please review!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!**


	7. Unresolved Tensions

**_A/N - you all had to wait for this update, I became slightly obsessed with my other NCIS story (Flight). Enjoy this chapter and pls keep up with the awesome reviews – I love you all for taking the time to do that! Sorry if I missed any type-o's or anything in my haste to post this for you._ **

**Quick side note to** **agentskully**: Thx for reviewing! After I replied to your review I thought of something else. You pointed out some things about Diphtheria and immunizations etc, But in my story I purposely mentioned that the illness was most likely intentionally created as a bio-weapon on purpose by Saleem. So I think if you really looked at how I explained the numerous ways that Tony could have still ended up with Diphtheria even with past immunizations and boosters, you will see there are about 3 ways he could have still ended up getting it. There are always many other illnesses to choose from but I felt readers would rather I just picked one with some good symptoms and started writing, rather than waste time researching & deciding on hundreds of possibilities. Thank you!

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Final Scene From Chapter VI; **__"Good now – can we get you where we need to get you to fight this damn thing and get you all home?" Gibbs asked, still allowing his agent to relish in his rare show of affection and understanding. Also knowing he needed to help the distraught man fight another serious illness – again!_

"_Yeah." Tony replied, too wiped out from his rampage to say anything more. Though he now sported a smile under his mask unbeknown to his boss, as he realized that the Father like figure in front of him cared about him more than he would come right out and admit, but through whose words, along with the caring look evident in his blue eyes, completely gave him away._

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter VII**

McGee and Ziva had been allowed to walk onto the large medical evacuation chopper, but with the guided assistance of two medical aides sporting surgical masks. Once they made sure that the two exhausted and battered agents were situated with their IV's still in tact and hanging on hooks above their seats, the aides then exited the chopper and headed back towards the hangar. McGee was very impressed to see how much nicer and more well equipped this fairly new and hi-tech chopper was, in comparison to the usual cold and barbaric military cargo planes they were forced to fly on. However, his enchantment with their means of transport was short lived when he remembered the reason they were even _on_ this fancier bird.

After pondering that sobering though for a moment, he turned his eyes in the direction of the seat right next to him only to find himself staring directly into the dark and haunted eyes of Ziva. It was obvious she had also been thinking about their new predicament, Tim realized that Ziva hadn't even had a chance to absorb the fact that she was finally free - before they were given the shocking news of the newest development, Tony being sick.

Ziva's mind was filled with a jumbled mixture of emotions and feelings that, 6 months ago she would have been able to push to the back of her mind and ignore. After all, that is how she had been trained while growing up as Mossad - there was no time for feelings, no time for fear. They had been trained that feelings and emotions would only result in injuries or death and that one must not let anything other than the mission with which they had been assigned, cloud their mind and therefore their judgement.

Before today, and after months of captivity and abuse, Ziva had already prepared herself mentally for what was sure to happen. She had already accepted her inescapable fate - to die at the hands of Saleem or one of his large army of men. To say she had not been prepared when the hood had roughly yanked from her head and she found herself staring directly into the sad green eyes of her long time friend and faithful partner Tony, would have been the understatement of the year.

There he was - seated directly across from her and looking just as worse for wear as she _felt_.

As she sat there next to Timothy, waiting for Tony and Gibbs to arraive, she could not escape from, nor ignore the feelings she was having. She felt ashamed of herself over how badly she had treated Tony inside Saleem's camp. She knew that every word that she had uttered to the hero tied to the chair across from her, had oozed with blatant hostility.

But there had been more behind her inexcusable actions, than anyone could have known - and that was guilt.

Pure, unadulterated guilt.

With each passing week that Ziva had remained captive, her guilt over how she herself had lied to, mistreated, and deeply hurt the man who had nothing more than her best interests at heart, always.

She felt that she did not deserve the forgiveness that she could see glowing deep within his green eyes, and she most certainly did not deserve him to risk his own life to save the woman who did nothing but hurt him. She had hurt him _professionally,_ she had hurt him _physically _when she confronted him in Tel Aviv, and worst of all, she hurt him emotionally by basically acusing him of lying and of jealousy.

If anyone had the right to confront someone - it was _Tony_ who should have confronted _her _she realized, it was _she_ who deserved to be punished and knocked down – it was she who deserved to be hurt.

This very guilt, that had been eating away at her for months, is what stood behind her actions as she had tried to get Tony to leave her and escape! She had told him to just take Tim and escape without her, saving themselves and leaving her to the life ending fate she felt she deserved as a punishment for her own abhorable actions.

When Ziva looked up and her eyes landed on Tim's, she almost felt as though he could read every thought that was running through her mind, like he could somehow sense her self hatred and guilt. As both of their thoughts turned to concern for Tony, they just stared at each other, wordlessly expressing their fear for their infected teammate. Within a few minutes Ziva and McGee could hear some voices approaching in the distance, one of them very familiar, as another small group made their way to he chopper. The new sounds caused the two agents to turn towards the open side door where they could see Tony, sitting in a wheelchair which was being pushed by one of the female Nurses. _'Of course'_, they both thought at the same time, '_of course Tony had charmed his way into being delivered to the awaiting bird in a wheelchair rather than the gurney they both know he should have been on.'_

"Agent DiNozzo, how about you focus on getting better _first_ and **then** we can discuss whether or not you will be getting my phone number. Okay?" The cute Nurse could be heard commenting, with a shy smile spreading across her face. Tim knew that Tony was merely putting on his usual act to keep everyone's attention and focus on his superficial flirting so that everything would see like business as usual so to speak, and no one would be thinking of his declining health and what lay ahead. Tim also knew at this point, after lying on the floor at the compound and hearing the truth serum infused Tony admit to some pretty deeo secrets. Admitting that he could not live without one Ms. Ziva David, how irreplaceable she was and -how his life had lost all meaning once he believed that she was dead. This made Tim more certain than ever, that Tony's flirting with the Nurse was nothing more than an act, another one of his many covers. Tim was sure that Tony had not even considered the fact that Tim had heard every admission he had made in the camp - and he wasn't about to remind him!

Ziva had also realized what Tony was doing, time and time again she had tried to get him to admit his own tendency to crack jokes or change the subject, whenever the conversation turned to anything personal. Only Tony would just joke even more. She knew there would be a time soon enough where he would no longer be able to pretend to be fine and he would be too ill to keep up his comedic cover. She could only hope to be able to have a chance to at least try to apologize to him - before he became too incoherent from fever and sickness.

Ziva looked through the open chopper door, looking to see if Gibbs was also with Tony, she didn't see any sign of him anywhere near Tony, or even anywhere in the distance behind him.

Tony started to stand up from the wheelchair planning to walk up into the chopper just like everyone else had, he was still embarrassed that he had been the only one forced to ride a damn wheelchair when he was not that sick yet. He was perfectly capable of walking, after all he had been doing it since he was 11 months old! Before he had even stood all the way up, his head started throbbing with each beat of his heart and spinning. He had felt dizzy off an on since he was first injected with Saleem's cocktail, so he assumed this too would pass just as the other bouts had. But it didn't pass as quickly this time, suddenly his legs felt like jello and combined with his sudden lack of equilibrium he feared he may fall, something that he couldn't fathom doing again in front of his peers.

But before he pitched any further forward, a strong hand grabbed him just under his arm supplying the extra strength to keep him upright that his legs were lacking. He looked up, he was shocked to see his boss – the same boss whom had just stayed back in the hangar to finish some forms that required his signature before they could all leave. But just as he always did, Gibbs just seemed to materialize out of no where, this time showing up next to Tony just when he needed him.

"Whoa boss, where did you come from?"

"I told you I would be here to help you get through this didn't I? Biggs said in his usual gruff manner, "What'd ya think DiNozzo?! D'ya think that was just talk?! Well it wasn't." Gibbs said to Tony still gruff but speaking right next to his ear so no one else would hear. After all, Gibbs knew that both men had an image to protect.

Gibbs thought about that and all of the other ways in which he and Tony were similar to each other. Some of the similar traits were a result of working together for so many years, sometimes spending a good 70 hours a week working a case - and others were a result of just similar likes and dislikes such as their tendancy to attract and become involved with, multiple good looking women. Or the almost identical way they both kept their true feelings and emotions well hidden. Or the way they both hated hospitals and tended to down play major injuries and were almost embarrased when anyone tried to nurture them. It made them feel weak and neither one of the strong men, could ever allow themselves to look weak or vulnerable - to anyone!

Gibbs often wondered why more people didn't pick up on all of the similarities between he and his Senior Agent, Gibbs had noticed years ago and deep in his heart be believed that even his own biological son if he had one, would even have been as clone-like as Tony was. Anyone who only knew Gibbs as he was now, might not believe that at one time he himself had been a girl crazy, partying athlete with a lively and outgoing personality – when in fact he had been exactly that, at least until the day he met Shannon.

After that, his eyes didn't stray towards another woman again. But when she was tragically ripped from his life along with their daughter, gone along with them was the talkative, fun spirited and always smiling Marine – left in it's place was a shell of Gibbs former self and that is how he remained even to this very day. Gibbs had been worried about Tony not too long ago, worried he was heading towards the same messed up fate after the whole mess with Jeanne had exploded in his face. Gibbs had watched at Tony's usual contagious personality and energy began to wane and disappear. No one knew that Jethro had taken the young man aside back then and forced him into a man to man talkiin his basement.

Gibbs merely confessed to Tony that he could not just stand by and watch Tony throw away his very essence and love for life - over a relationship that was most likley not meant to be from the start. He had been able to get his Senior Agent to agree to be strong and not to let Jeanne and her criminal family take anything more away from him than they had already taken! Including Tony's beloved car since that had been blown to smithereens as a warning.

But if anyone could occasionally get the old smilingand lighthearted Gibbs to come back out now and then – it was definitely Tony, with Abby coming in a close second. These straying thoughts as they flashed through his mind, made him smile for a moment before he turned to finish helping Tony up into the plane by keeping him steady - planning to stay by his side until he was situated inside the chopper.

The passenger area of the chopper housed two rows of regular airplane type seats with two seats on each side of a wide than usual aisle. Behind that was a third row but with two gurneys, one on each side of the aisle – these were currently affixed to the chopper walls for stability during flight, but they could also be detached for mobility so the more critical patients the MedEvac transported, could be moved with ease and without having to disturb the patient by having to transfer them to a portable gurney. Currently they were in an upright position so they looked like more of a recliner type of seat rather than a flat bed, this was good for patients who were not critical at the moment, but who could take a turn and need to lay flat.

Tony couldn't help but chuckle as he entered the plane, the sight of seeing everyone with their surgical masks on, sitting in a massive chopper just struck his funny bone for some reason. He thought they all looked silly, including he himself and - _especially_ their tough as nails boss. Once he was all the way inside, he of course headed straight for one of the few remaining _regular_ seats until Dr. Keenan's voice could be heard coming into the plane behind them. "Umm, Agent DiNozzo, while I'm sure you would prefer to sit over there with your team I am afraid I need you to proceed further toward the rear of the plane." said as he pointed out the half reclined gurneys in the rear of the large bird. Seeing the look of frustration that crossed the Agent's face he added, "Trust me, you will still more comfortable than all of us Agent DiNozzo – and you will still be close enough to speak with your team."

The compassionate Doctor didn't miss the dejected body language that his patient was now exhibiting and decided further explanation may be in order. He knew Tony didn't feel sick enough yet, to be forced to be bedridden so to speak. "I apologize for my request Tony, but it's just that it would make our jobs easier since we need to monitor you a little more closely and most of the equipment for that is also located in the rear of the plane."

Tony, being more stubborn than anyone on the team, opened his mouth to try to plead his own case and use his charm to try to outwit the kind Doctor. One look back towards his boss though, taking in the scowling frown and squinted eyes that were just daring him to keep arguing and suffer the consequences, caused Tony to quickly shut his mouth and silently proceed to one of the partially reclined seats.

"Consider this our 'first class' section if you will." The Doctor said with a grin, "Oh and Ms. David my dear, I am afraid I must ask that you also move back here as well if you could be so kind." He said as he pointed to the other seat directly across from the one Tony was now getting situated in.

"I'm afraid your attempts to hide the fact that you are also not feeling well have not been as successful as you thought. The results of the most recent check of your vital signs, have warranted closer observation for you as well. We prefer to err' on the side of caution here, considering the fact that we are in a foreign Country with the sometimes less than sanitary conditions and limited medical technology at our disposal, we have to be more stringent in our use of the old fashioned methods of maintaining one's health and well being. Just like I said to Agent DiNozzo, the items we need to use to keep tabs on your vitals signs and such, are much more accessible in this tail section."

Ziva felt very apprehensive about being in such close proximity to the man with whom she had so many unresolved issues with and whom also was unknowingly a constant reminder of her own guilty conscience. Deep down she knew she had wronged him, hurt him. She knew that she had betrayed him just as much if not more so, than he had her. The thought of sitting only a matter of feet away from him, stirred up so many different emotions that she was rendered speechless and lost in her thoughts. It wasn't until the voice of her former boss resounded in her ears and forced her attention back to the Doctor's request – or demand rather. "Ziva?" Gibbs said her name with a subtle force that was somehow also laced with concern and understanding.

She didn't know how he did it, but somehow she felt as though he could read her mind and knew every thought and feeling she was experiencing, sometimes even before _she_ did!

"Yes Gibbs, I – " she paused, looking flushed and dazed, "I do not feel that my health is anywhere near in jeopardy, nor do I feel that I need to be babysat like a – like a lit-tle _schoolgir_l!" she blurted out, feeling she had to at least_ try_ to get out of this somehow, too tired to deal with the added stress of sitting so close to the man who still took her breath away, though she had never admitted that to anyone, not even Abby.

Not wanting to be close enough to smell his scent which usually smelled like a sexy combination of expensive cologne and just the very essence that was Tony. Not that he would be wearing any cologne after two days in captivity, in fact she realized that she would probably not have to worry about dealing with his usually very arousing scent – she herself probably didn't smell like a Spring flower herself at this point. She couldn't help but wonder if they would sit there in awkward silence for the entire, albeit short flight, or if they would both force themselves to maintain a shallow and meaningless banter.

"Ziva!" Gibbs repeated, making it even more clear that he was in no mood to mess around and waste time.

Leave it to Gibbs to be able to convey _**so**_ much - by simply uttering her name. His tone spoke volumes in that Ziva knew she had no choice whatsoever and that she had best get moving and get back there before he had to say her name once more, with enough of an increase in volume to let her know he meant business and would not allow her to delay them any further. She contemplated pointing out that technically he was not her boss anymore – then quickly decided against it, realizing she had brought that little development on herself when she had forced Gibbs to choose between she and the person whom had been the longest lasting Senior Agent he had ever had working under him – and even more importantly, the man who had become more like a Son to him, than simply his second in command.

With that thought, she unlatched her seat restraint and proceeded to walk towards the back, towards her former partner.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

**Gosh I hope you all liked this update and how the story is tracking! I know it's slow in getting to the illness and drama – but I can't ignore the Tiva factor now can I? haha Pls review even if you think it's a pain – it really only takes a few seconds! **


	8. New Theories & Old Regrets

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_**Previously on - "The Consequences Of The Truth":**_

"Ziva."

Leave it to Gibbs to be able to convey _**so**_ much - by simply uttering her name. His tone spoke volumes in that Ziva knew she had no choice whatsoever and that she had best get moving and get back there before he had to say her name once more, with enough of an increase in volume to let her know he meant business and would not allow her to delay them any further. She contemplated pointing out that technically he was not her boss anymore – then quickly decided against it, realizing she had brought that little development on herself when she had forced Gibbs to choose between she and the person whom had been the longest lasting Senior Agent he had ever had working under him – and even more importantly, the man who had become more like a Son to him, than simply his second in command.

With that thought, she unlatched her seat restraint and proceeded to walk towards the back, towards her former partner.

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**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter VIII**

_**Mid-Flight . . .**_

The plane had taken off without incident and had reached the usual 30,000 feet flying altitude. For the most part Team Gibbs had been silent thus far, as Gibbs looked down at his watch he noticed they had only been in flight for about 15 minutes so far. Gibbs had seated himself in a seat that would allow him to be able to view the rear seats where Tony and Ziva were.

Much to Ziva's relief, Tony was asleep almost immediately after take off, the Doctor had warned him that the concoction of drugs that Saleem had given him would eventually make him very drowsy as they continued to work their way out of his system. Initially the drugs had made him feel somewhat dizzy, while at the same time they caused him to become almost hyper-alert at the same time. Ziva watched Tony sleeping from the edge of her peripheral vision, she thought back to the moment the hood was jerked off her head, the moment when her eyes allowed her to view the glassy green eyes that were staring back at her. She felt there were no words to describe the variety of emotions that engulfed her when her mind allowed her to realize what those green eyes signified. What she saw when she looked directly into them was safety . . . and love.

But what she didn't realize yet was that the love that she had seen within Tony's eyes was also a reflection of that very same emotion that shined through from from deep within her own eyes. She still felt overwhelmed by guilt over how rudely she had spoken to him while they were bound to those chairs and facing death together – head on. She had purposely asked how McGee was doing, wanting to send Tony a message that she didn't care enough to ask how he was doing, even though it was clear to anyone with eyes, that Tony was far worse off than McGee.

Truthfully she couldn't handle that fact. Couldn't handle the fact that Tony was in that condition because of her, for her! Why, why did he always put himself in harm's way for her. She didn't deserve it! He was injured by Rivkin because of her, now injured by Salim and his men, because of her! Tears slowly started seeping out the very corners of her eyes. Something that Gibbs was observing from across the plane – something that he had been waiting for, knowing that there was more going on between his Senior Agent and Ziva than either of them realized they had been letting on.

Finally Ziva fell asleep, joining Tony in exhausted slumber. Within about 20 minutes from take off, the entire plane was shrouded in silence as both Gibbs and McGee followed suit, all of them unable to remain awake after months of stress and drama, followed by the past few days of sleep deprivation – combined with added pains and illnesses. The emotional roller coaster of thinking Ziva was dead, then finding her alive, and the traumatic rescue – all added to their states of complete exhaustion.

Gibbs had only allowed himself to sleep once he saw that Tony didn't seem to be getting any worse for the time being, and he also waited until each of his team had succumbed to sleep and even then, Gibbs still slept light enough that he could wake up at the first sign that something was happening – something he learned during his days as a Marine in the field.

_**45 Minutes Later . . .**_

As the plane was beginning it's descent, the infamous Gibbs' Gut caused him to wake with a start. Then only seconds after he did, a groan came from Tony's direction – Gibbs realized quickly that he must have sensed that one of his agents needed him, since he had woken up before Tony had audibly released his discomfort, he quickly released his belt buckle and hurried towards his agent's seat.

When he got to Tony's side, he was not happy to see the ailing man's eyes screwed shut as if in tremendous pain, and with a copious amount of sweat now covering his face. Tony's hands were gripping onto the sides of the reclining seat he was on, his knuckles white from the tight hold he had on the arms of the chair. As Gibbs looked around for the Doctor or a Nurse, he grimaced when he spotted them conversing in the rear of the plane, buckled into their own seats. Fury was building as he realized they had no idea that one of their patient's was suffering.

Gibbs leaned down and whispered into Tony's ear. "Tony, listen to me. Hang in there while I get the Doctor. Can you do that?"

Anyone else would have missed the sligh hint of a nod that Tony gave him, he was still groggy from all the various drugs coursing through his system, but also feeling intense stomach pains that were obviously casuing him enough pure agony, that he could barely move.

Gibbs took off towards the back of the plane, his blue eyes now practically glowing red with anger. "What the hell are you doing shooting the breeze while one of my agents is in so much pain that I can't even get him to tell me where it hurts?" he exploded, still keeping his voice down enough to not disturb the rest of his team.

The Doctor and Nurse quickly began to unbuckle themselves and rise. "I'm sorry Agent Gibbs but we were told by the Pilots that we must prepare for landing. Here, let's get him taken care of quickly so we can land and get him where he needs to be. Then he can receive the kind of treatment he needs, and stronger drugs."

In a flash the Doctor was pulling back one of Tony's eyelids, peering into see how his pupils were reacting, while the Nurse had her hand around Tony's wrist as she counted every beat of his pulse. The Physician had been hesitant to give him too many other drugs since they still needed further testing to determine what all Saleem had given him. But now they were close enough to the hospital, to risk it. "Agent DiNozzo, can you hear me?"

He nodded again, only a tiny bit more than he had before.

"I'm sorry but I need you to point to where you are hurting the most if you can manage."

Tony removed his hand that was shaking the very second it left the vice-like grip he had on the arm of his seat, he simply let his hand fall on top of his stomach where he just left it to lay there – too weak to move it back.

"Okay, thank you. I am going to give you something to help with that, it should kick in almost immediately, okay?" Gibbs watched as the Nurse handed the Doctor a syringe which he then quickly plunged into the IV flowing into Tony's arm. The Nurse gabbed a washcloth that she had dampened using her own bottle of water, she gently wiped the sweat from Tony's face so that he would be more comfortable. The cool wetness also provided a welcome relief to his fevered skin.

Within seconds just as the Doctor had promised, the tight lines of pain across Tony's forehead and around his eyes and mouth, instantly relaxed back to the normal appearance of a man who was no longer in pain. His green eyes blinking and slowly opening since now he could focus on something other than the stabbing pains he had felt deep within his abdomen.

They all watched as just seconds later Tony finally released the breath he had been holding in, having been afraid that the movement would worsen his pain.

"Thanks Boss" he whispered as he looked up at Gibbs. "Thanks Doc" he added, glancing back at the medical team.

"Now Tony that should make you sleepy again I'm afraid but it beats the alternative am I right? But it will also keep the pain at bay long enough for us to get you settled into a bed at the hospital where we can immediately begin the tests we need in order to determine if my diagnosis was correct or if there is something else we might be dealing with in your case. I say that because if the theory that this Saleem character may have actually created this illness is true – then it really could only_ appear_ to be diphtheria and yet it could very well be some new man made disease that stems from more than one."

Gibbs turned towards the Physician upon hearing his words, "What? Now why they hell did you say he had Diphtheria if now you say it might not be? What kind of operation are you running here Doctor? Do you always alarm the patient before you have all the facts?" he was furious.

"Now, now Agent Gibbs just hold on for one minute. Look – I still stand by my initial diagnosis but while observing Agent DiNozzo during this flight, his symptoms are pretty much all over the board. They are not identical to that of Diphtheria. That got me thinking and I only just now realized that we need to look into this other possibility! The possibility that Saleem was smarter than the average terrorist and that he may very well have purposely wanted everyone to assume we were dealing with only one specific illness so we could treat it accordingly – but then he may have known those treatments would fail since he added a failsafe if you will, by incorporating a mixture of infected bacterias into his concoction and then the patient would not respond to the typical treatments and would -" he suddenly stopped – having been so caught up in the excitement of his theory that he forgot that he was standing within ear shot of the actual infected patient.

Tony decided to help him out, "It's okay Doc – I'm not an idiot, you can say it. **Die**. Isn't that the word that seems to be stuck in your throat Doc – hmmm? Die, keel over, tits up, pass awa-"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs said, stopping his rambling agent, but his voice was still no where near as harsh as Tony wished it would be. He hated when Gibbs was nice to him, it only meant bad things – like when Kate died, or now when Tony might.

"Shutting it Boss."

The Doctor finally regained his composure, "Look, I'm sorry. You are right Agent DiNozzo, that is the word I was going to use – however I do not think you are going to die, especially now that we know that we need to test the serum further and look for other specific illnesses that are common with bio-terrorists. You are also very lucky to be going where we are taking you. This hospital has one of the most impressive Bio-terrorist labs in the Country!"

Some light finally started shining in Tony's emerald eyes again upon hearing that last part. It gave him a spark of hope – something to cling to. Gibbs immediately relaxed after sensing the change in his very special senior agent.

"Alright we best all prepare for the landing, I can tell we are descending quite rapidly. "Anything else you need at the moment Agent DiNozzo?" Tony shook his head, as Gibbs then gave him a quick shoulder squeeze of reassurance before he left to go back to his own seat. Tony slowly turned his head, looking over towards Ziva's seat only to be caught by surprise when he found himself staring directly into her now open brown eyes.

"How long have you been awake Miss Zee-vah?" he asked her, purposely falling back into the familiar routine of playing with her name like he used to. He hoped to get back to some sense of normalcy if he could, and he knew she needed that too.

"Long enough to know that you still can't handle the slightest amount of pain." she retorted, letting him know she had been awake long enough to know he was suffering. She then wanted to kick herself, now was not the time for cruel and condescending jokes. Now was a time for bitterness and anger maybe – not frivolent teasing and ribbing.

She remembered how bad she felt about how rudely she had treated him back at Saleem's camp and she had to rectify that somehow – and fast. He did not deserve it, she had a feeling he had been the key element in even finding her, she knew her former partner that well.

"Tony I -"

"No it's okay Ziva, I can take it. I might not be able to take excruciating pain that feels like someone is stabbing at my insides with a hunting knife - but - I can sure take your insensitive jabs and condescending remarks no problem!" he came back with his own harsh come back – he was sick and felt like crap so his mood and attitude were definitely not in a very good place. He didn't even care anymore what he said to her. After all, she didn't seem to care about him in the least when they pulled the hood off of her still breath taking face. She didn't seem to care about him when she pointed a gun at his leg and his chest after knocking his still injured body to the ground in Tel Aviv.

Tears sprung into Ziva's eyes faster than she had ever been able to cry before. Her experience in captivity had changed her, she now felt as vulnerable as a small little girl, not the Mossad born and bred, trained soldier that she used to be. She had no idea what to say to make it right. She had her demons and Tony had his own.

Somehow they had to work it through on their own and hopefully, she allowed herself to dream, that hopefully once they each had battled their own inner demons and when they each felt strong again in their own right - then maybe then they could find their way back to each other as friends, or maybe even more.

She turned her head towards the wall of the plane, while Tony, unbeknown to her, had done the same. Now each of them were looking in the opposite direction, and feeling like crap, each wondering what had happened to crumble the seemingly strong friendship and partnership that they had once enjoyed.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Sorry this was slightly shorter than some of my updates but, it's better than no update I hope! I wanted to make sure to address the Tony/Ziva mess that almost made them lose each other forever! I want to show how they EACH felt and what they were EACH going through as they worked their way back to being friends.**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW! :-)**_


	9. Hotel Sterile? Or Hotel HELL?

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_**Previously on - "The Consequences Of The Truth":**_

_Somehow they had to work it through on their own and hopefully, she allowed herself to dream, that hopefully once they each had battled their own inner demons and when they each felt strong again in their own right - then maybe then they could find their way back to each other as friends, or maybe even more._

_She turned her head towards the wall of the plane, while Tony, unbeknown to her, had done the same. Now each of them were looking in the opposite direction, and feeling like crap, each wondering what had happened to crumble the seemingly strong friendship and partnership that they had once enjoyed._

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**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter IX**

_**Outside The Somalian Hospital . . .**_

As the large evacuation chopper landed on the ground level helipad, it was practically swarmed with hospital personnel whom were dressed head to toe in bright yellow hazmat gear. It was like a scene out of one of Tony's oft mentioned movies where Alien invaders had taken over the Earth. One of the Nurses on board exited the chopper as soon as the exit door was opened, she went inside to make sure everything was set up and ready for the group but there were other Interns and Nurses waiting outside the helicopter to assist the two sicker passengers as needed. All of the Medical personnel had donned long sleeve scrubs, gloves, masks and hair covers to keep as little of their bodies exposed as possible. There could not of course function and work if they had to gear up in full hazmat suits.

Team Gibbs began to unbuckle themselves from their seats and awaited the eerie escort into the foreign Medical Center, each one of them waited for him to say it, or _expected_ it rather. What movie title would it be this time? What scene or line would Tony quote today that would cause them all to give him the customary rolling of their eyes and echoed hhrrummffs?

Tony was still shaking off the grogginess from having only just woken up as the massive helicopter landed on the landing pad causing a slight jolt - but enough of a jolt to jerk Tony out of his fevered slumber. "Wha-?" he jerked upright with a start, wondering where he was and trying to gain some control over his still half asleep mind and body. He had only been out for about ten to fifteen minutes since the pain medication he had been given had quickly pulled him under. But now it left him still feeling dazed and extremely drowsy – a state that he _hated_ being in!

Things started to move fast once the helicopter landed, the door had opened and there was commotion as a couple of new people boarded the chopper. Tony's eyes grew as wide as saucers as he then spotted someone in full hazmat gear walking towards him. Then thankfully his memory finally kicked into gear as he remembered their '_situation', _feeling his heart drop at the thought of what lay ahead for him. Could he go through this – again? Did he have what it would take to make it through yet another life threatening illness?

"Tony."

The sound of his name pushed him to become fully alert as he recognized the sound of Gibbs' gruff voice calling to him, craning his neck to try to look beyond the ominous man in yellow to find his boss.

"Yeah boss." he responded, wondering if his voice sounded as weak to Gibbs and the others, as his own ears had detected.

Gibbs pushed past the man in the bright yellow suit whom had come in to assist with getting them all off the plane and into the Hospital's side entrance so as not to alarm other patients and visitors with the obvious and unnerving sight of the masked and yellow suited group of people. The man was one of head of the hospital's quarantine and infectious disease control experts and he was also going to supervise the thorough cleaning of the entire interior of the helicopter once everyone was cleared out. when the mature NCIS Agent had pushed him aside without uttering a word, he immediately felt a little put off by the strong and assertive Lead Agent. He found that he had to bite his own tongue in order to avoid an altercation.

Now was not the time or place he reminded himself. Instead he turned and followed the rest of the group off the plane including the beautiful Israeli woman he had spotted when he passed her on his way into the plane as she was being helped down to an awaiting in a wheelchair.

"How do you wanna do this DiNozzo? I'm sure you will attempt to convince me that you can walk in with us but, you can save your breath – that's not happening. You have two choices, gurney or wheelchair – what's it gonna be?" came Gibbs' ultimatum, spoken through the mask covering his mouth.

"Chair." came his one word answer. The fact that he didn't even attempt to argue with Gibbs was something that did not go unnoticed by the older Lead Agent. Tony noticed the look of concern and surprise that took over his bosses' face and immediately tried to back track.

"I'm fine boss, I think the cat nap I had on the plane actually did me some good." he explained as he released the buckles securing him to the reclined seat.

"Yeah?" Gibbs questioned. "Well, you still look like crap."

Tony squinted his eyes slightly and glared at his boss, acting put off by the remark although obviously in more of a joking manner. He knew his boss was right, he was always right and he also didn't mince words. "Okay, let's blow this Popsicle stand." Tony said, putting up his usual barricade of humor.

Ziva meanwhile, had initially attempted to _walk_ into the hospital but by the time McGee had helped her to hobble from her seat to the main exit, sweat had completely drenched her face and she had paled significantly. McGee finally yelled down to some awaiting medical staff to get them to garner a wheelchair. He then thought twice and hollered for two since he knew that his other partner, still in the rear of the plane, would also be stubborn and refuse a gurney.

Tony knew better than to stand up too quickly so he paused at the edge of his seat for a few seconds and acted like he was just getting situated, making sure he grabbed the IV bag that the Doctor had placed in his lap once they landed, in preparation of their exit from the plane. He was caught off guard when Gibbs suddenly grabbed him under one of his arms and carefully hauled him into an upright position. Tony as always, was amazed by the strength his boss possessed as he reluctantly allowed Gibbs to half-carry him out of the plane and down the stairs to the awaiting wheelchair.

After depositing his weakened agent into the chair one of the Interns whom had held the chair steady, immediately started wheeling him inside, Gibbs was pulled aside by the Doctor whom had gotten off the plane just ahead of them.

"Agent Gibbs, I just want to give you my word that we will do everything within our powers to help your agent, and the rest of you if the need be. I will be staying here to assist with treating everyone and helping to get a more clear diagnosis for your senior agent. But I do have to work alongside the lead physician but he is currently doing surgery so he won't be in for a while. But I can promise you that Agent DiNozzo will be in good hands here, all of you will."

"Thank you Doctor, I appreciate that. I do have two of my own team flying out here though, I am not sure if I informed you of that yet. One of them, Doctor Mallard, acts as Tony's occasional physician but he is our Medical Examiner by title. The other is Miss Abby Scuito – she is the best Forensic Specialist I have ever had the pleasure to work and we need her expertise if we are going to determine what is ailing my agent. I would feel more comfortable knowing she is working alongside your research team so I can be sure that the chain of evidence isn't accidentally breached. Can you arrange some kind of temporary hospital ID for her?"

"Oh of course, I can get her a temporary instatement here. I also look forward to meeting Doctor Mallard as I am sure I can put him to good use as well."

With that, Gibbs and the Doctor silently made their way towards the entrance that the others had already disappeared through. Within minutes they were inside the Isolation wing of the hospital – there were no funky blue lights this time much to Tony's immense relief.

Gibbs was not all the way through the doorway yet when he recognized the voice of his Senior Field Agent - whom must have been given more morphine based on the giddy way he sounded. One of his famous half grins appeared on Gibbs' face as soon as he heard Tony's loud comment.

"Welll welll we-elll - wouldyalookat this! Welcome to Hotel Sterile!" Tony announced with only a slight slur to his words.

Silly but healthy.

That was how he _sounded_ - although Gibbs knew it was to be short lived and that Tony merely seemed to be fine at that moment, but he also knew enough to admit that the heavy duty pain medication was only _masking_ the worst of his symptoms temporarily. According to the Doctor, in a matter of hours not even Morphine would be able to touch the severe pain that lay ahead for him, and at that point Gibbs could only hope that either Abby and the rest of the Lab team would have developed an anti-toxin, or that the Doctor would sedate Tony to the point where he would be unconscious through the worst of it.

Once Gibbs was further inside the massive room, he turned away from Tony to quickly and efficiently scan the room, checking out seemingly every square inch. A habit from his long career of investigating crime scenes he supposed, he took in all of the fancy and high-tech gadgets and ultra sterile environment. The room contained 4 beds with plenty of room to bring in more as needed since the hospital often had cases involving larger exposures to other contagions or illnesses. It was fully equipped with anything the medical team would need to treat the patients, IV kits, medications, EKG machine, ventilators, X-Ray devices, etc.

Through the glass double doors leading out to the hallway, he could see another door across the way, it's doors also consisting of glass, with the words 'Research Lab - Virology & Infectious Disease' displayed in large black letters that were outlined in silver and it looked like just beneath that, the department name was repeated in smaller black print in what looked like Arabic and one other foreign language to accommodate the various nationalities working here. The lab was clearly used solely for the purpose of research, testing and forming antidotes and anti-toxins for whatever the newest contagious affliction was going to be.

From what little he could see of the lab through the windows, it was easy to see that the lab housed the best of the best in equipment which immediately gave him a sense of relief and hope as he knew just as the physician had told them, this was indeed the place to be if one were to have any chance of surviving a mystery and possibly man-made illness. Abby was going to be like a kid in a candy store when she arrived – since Gibbs had contacted Vance in DC and had him put Abby and Ducky on a plane to come and offer their expertise to assist them.

Gibbs wandering thoughts were interrupted when an intern or orderly came up to him with a sealed plastic bag that held what appeared to be fresh scrubs. He barely registered the young man's words as he pointed out a door leading to adjoining locker room, he was told there would be a long row of showers where he would need to shower and scrub thoroughly. He was told that he would find a bin near the entrance into the showers and that after he had stripped down completely, he would need to dispose of his now filthy beige camouflage clothing and toss everything into the bin.

"Yeah thanks I will do that -" Gibbs started to answer, "-but only _after_ the rest of my team has been taken care of first."

The young Intern wasn't sure what to do, he found himself slightly afraid of the gruff and demanding Agent. "Uh – well . . . Sir – I uh, we." he stuttered.

~ _damn! _~ he thought to himself, ~ _pull it together!~_

"Sir, it's - it's protocol - and hospital policy, I need you to comply." he finally replied, feeling proud of himself for standing up to the stubborn man in front of him.

"Yeah? Well that's great. But I still won't be doing _anything_ until then so I suggest if you want me to do what you asked, then you would probably be best served by getting the rest of my team taken care of. Ya got that - Scott?" he fired back – noting the man's name on the hospital badge he wore that was hanging loosely around his neck by a fabric cord.

The Intern scoffed and then turned on his heels, having decided to just inform his Supervisor and get further instructions. Gibbs grinned in satisfaction over his small victory and proceeded to walk over to check on his team. Walking up to where Tony and Ziva still sat in the wheelchairs they had been brought in with – Gibbs could see that they all held plastic bags exactly like the one he had been given.

Walking up to stand in between McGee and wheelchair bound DiNozzo, Gibbs listened as the Doctor gave them all the same instructions that the Intern had just given to him just moments before.

". . . bin near the showers where you will discard any and all clothing, You have each been given an extra plastic bag for which to place any cell phones, wallets, jewelry, watches, etc. We brought all of your weapons – guns, knives etc. over from the hangar, those will all be cleaned, stored somewhere safe and then returned to you when you leave here."

Then the Doctor turned to Ziva "Miss David, since you have been through so much recently and appear to be weak as well from malnourishment as well as obvious injuries, I must insist upon sending in a female Nurse in to stay nearby while you shower just in case you become too weak. It's hospital policy for liability purposes as I am sure you understand. Also, since Gibbs informed us that your lengthy captivity is also part of an investigation and current case - you know how this works and that we must do a thorough physical exam on you and ask you some detailed questions about what you have been through. This is not only for the case but also so we can treat you accordingly."

Ziva merely stared at the doctor, not showing any emotion whatsoever causing the doctor to just continue.

"I have arranged to have a female Physician to do the exam. She is a colleague of mine and she will also be the one to collect samples of take pictures and record an audio tape of your statement, so the more you can tell her, the better we will be able to treat you. She will then assign the female nurse I mentioned to accompany you to another showering facility through that door over there."

Even if they tried, no one would have been able to describe the expression on Ziva's face during and after the Doctor's words. Not McGee, not Tony, not even Gibbs could have interpreted the look in her eyes and her nearly motionless face. It was a mixture of fear, deep sadness, embarrassment, hatred and exhaustion all rolled into one horrific blend of emotion.

Almost all of them missed the slightest of nods that she gave in response, her only response.

Tony's face and neck grew red with anger as he realized what the Doctor was basically saying – he had been in law enforcement long enough to know he was referring to a rape kit as part of the exam. This made Tony seethe with hatred and anger. Hatred for Saleem and his men and furious with himself that he had not been able to protect her from – whatever did happen to her there. But Tony knew, he knew solely by the look in Ziva's nearly lifeless eyes, that something bad _had_ happened to her, but what exactly? He wasn't sure if he wanted to find out, he wasn't sure he could handle knowing what she went through and that he had been powerless to prevent it.

Part of him wanted to resurrect Saleem one more time just to strangle the slimy bastard with all his might and watch the life slowly ebb out of his black and evil eyes until he dropped him to the floor in a boneless heap!

Gibbs was angry too since he had grown to care about Ziva as well, although he knew he needed to get to the bottom of why she killed Ari in his basement – was it orders from her Father? Was it to gain Gibbs' trust only to screw him over later? That would have to wait he thought as he pulled his thoughts back to the present situation. He gently placed a hand on Tony's shoulder having noticed the red face that signaled a rise in blood pressure. He could feel the tension in his agent's shoulder where he gave him a moderate squeeze just to keep him grounded and in an effort to calm him down.

Only four minutes had passed when the female Doctor arrived and wheeled the still stoic Ziva off in another direction. But to the rest of the team it had seemed like hours since none of them had known what to say to her after the Doctor had explained everything to Ziva, so they had said nothing.

Finally the Doctor turned towards Tony, "Now as for you Agent DiNozzo, we do have to send someone in to assist you as well and since I anticipated that you would probably fight me on this, I made sure to get an especially burly Intern for you." he said, raising his hand to point out the Intern slash wannabe Pro Wrestler leaning against a nearby wall. The Doctor sported a huge grin of satisfaction over his ingenious planning. It hadn't taken him long to see that the agent in front of him, was as stubborn as they came, especially when it came to his health – or hospital's!

Gibbs and McGee both stifled the laughs that threatened to spill out, Tony just rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner and then dropped his head to his chest in appalled resignation. _~ Man this is going to suck! ~_ he thought, then lifting his head back up he spoke.

"I suppose it would be fruitless to request a female like Miss Dah-veed was given?" he half questioned, half stated. Then looking over towards the buff Intern he added;

"Alrighty then – let's just get this over with shall we Bubba?"

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Okay get ready for a wild ride since I have big plans for some surprises in store for you with this story! I assure you the drama, danger and excitement is not far ahead. PLEASE keep the awesome reviews coming :-) and THANK YOU!**_


	10. Consequences Of Learning The Truth

_**A/N -**_ I am excited about this chapter. Since I know I have been the most slow at updating this particular story, I wasn't sure where I was going in this chapter but then it just came to me and ended up being one of my favorites. I hope you like it as well. It's a really long one too so enjoy!!

_**Previously on - "The Consequences Of The Truth":**_

Gibbs and McGee both stifled the laughs that threatened to spill out, Tony just rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner and then dropped his head to his chest in appalled resignation. _~ Man this is going to suck! ~_ he thought, then lifting his head back up he spoke.

"I suppose it would be fruitless to request a female like Miss Dah-veed was given?" he half questioned, half stated. Then looking over towards the buff Intern he added;

"Alrighty then – let's just get this over with shall we Bubba?"

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter X**

_**Ziva' exam - Hospital Exam Room – Isolation Ward . . .**_

Ziva remained silent and stoic throughout most of her exam, staring at an unknown spot on the wall directly in front of her - speaking only when spoken to. She never volunteered any extra information, sticking to one or two word answers whenever possible.

"Is it tender when I press here?" the Nurse asked while lightly palpitating Ziva's upper abdomen while being cautious of the bruising.

"A little."

"Okay, how about here." she asked as she pressed on the one section that would either confirm, or rule out her suspicions of a specific problem. As tough as Ziva knew herself to be, she could not manage to stifle the hiss of pain that slipped through her clenched teeth as the Doctor pressed on a particularly sensitive part of her abdomen.

The Doctor flashed her a look of deep concern, "I'm sorry about that." the Doc offered, "How long has it been tender like this?"

"Mmm I don't know. A few hours? A day, a week?" she had gotten to the point while in captivity that she was struggling with being able to accurately determine how much time was passing. For weeks she didn't even know if it was day or night due to the dark and windowless bunker they had kept her in.

The Doctor made sure to be as quick and thorough as possible when she completed the worst parts of the rape exam – which was the part where she needed to look for signed of forced entry into Ziva's private lower body. Inwardly cringing and heartsick while taking photograph's of the severe bruising on her patient's inner thighs. Whomever had done this to her had not been gentle by any means. Then even though the Doctor whom had examined Ziva at the airfield had already warned her of some of the damage, she still had to fight not to audibly gasp when she found some infected bite marks, one on the patient's leg, another on her right buttock and one on her left breast. She knew that the other physician had been unable to treat the wounds simply due to strict procedures that were in place. Anytime rape was suspected, all medical personnel were trained not do anything to the patient that might disrupt the chain of evidence until the rape exam could be performed.

The doctor them proceeded to swab the bite marks for saliva and DNA, dropping the swabs into glass vials that would be sealed and marked. She was them able to immediately clean the wounds and apply a potent antibiotic cream, she then covered them lightly with sterile gauze.

She did this not only to protect the wounds and help them heal, but also with a dual purpose in mind that was to cover them from view. She felt it would be harder for this woman to heal if she had to constantly look at reminders of the sickening abuse that she had endured. Her next step was to perform a pelvic exam which would include obtaining samples that they would later test for semen. She took a moment in the midst of the pelvic exam to check on how her too silent patient was holding up.

Looking up at the pale woman's face in concern as she watched Ziva now staring blankly at the ceiling, eyes again affixed as if there was something there other than ceiling tiles. Occasionally closing her eyes as if trying to get her mind to drift elsewhere – not wanting to face what she was going through at the moment. Feeling almost as if she were being violated yet again no matter how gentle and cautious the caring physician was being.

"Ms David, I know this type of exam can bring back a lot of painful memories so I am truly sorry to have to put you through that. I'm almost done so if you can just bear with me for a little while longer, I just have to ask you a few questions and I need you to be as honest as possible no matter how hard it's going to be. Do you think you can do that?" she asked, trying hard not to look at her patient with pity.

All she received in reply was a barely detectable nod. "Okay, thank you. So do you happen to know how many times you were treated in this – manner? Also, was there was just one perpetrator or were there more than one?"

'_Perpetrator_' she thought with disgust. _'Perpetrator_' - it sounded so benign. So is that what we're calling the savage animal who violently and repeatedly raped me? A . . . perpetrator? Her eyes became almost wild as she was forced to see his face now fresh on her mind and leering back at her from the ceiling. Closing her eyes tightly once again she tried to think of anything else. She had no idea why but suddenly she found herself thinking about Tony. It instantly calmed her mind as she thought back to the moment she had first laid her eyes on his face when she was forced down into a chair directly across from him.

She didn't realize it but a small smile of satisfaction appeared on her gaunt face as she pictured the bullet entering into Saleem's head as he bonelessly dropped to the floor.

_**Isolation Ward . . .**_

Gibbs and McGee had finished showering and had already redressed using the blue scrubs they had been given. Their faces still adorned with the surgical masks as a precaution, and they had also been supplied with thin blue robes and flimsy slippers so as to stay warm while they waited to see if anyone else developed signs of the odd illness that Tony seemed to have been inflicted with.

The Doctors believed that only Tony would become sick since he was the one injected with the still to be determined batch of unknown drugs, But on the off chance that Saleem had put in any kind of live virus – the physicians knew they could take no chances.

As Gibbs and Tim were directed to two of the many beds that were housed in the spacious ward, Tim looked over to his boss as he laid back against the pillow while still on top of the covers since he didn't see the need. After all, he felt fine so what was the point of acting like a full fledged patient. "So . . . Boss – uhm – do you think that Tony is going to be alright? And Ziva, I mean she also didn't look well at all!"

Gibbs purposely pushed back his own fears and worries in order to give his junior agent a spark of hope. "Nah McGee – everyone will be fine. We have a strong and tough team here. We've made it through worse threats before and survived – and we will again."

"Yeah but, well . . . it's just that – well the Doctors didn't sound very reassuring when talking about Tony's prognosis, I mean how can you be so sure?" Tim meagerly inquired.

"Because Tim, it's a little thing called hope. And when we don't have that, we don't have anything." came Gibbs stoic reply – letting McGee in on one of his rare moments of shared wisdom and positive encouragement. He knew that fatigue was partially to blame for his own almost melancholy feelings at the moment, but he also knew Tim needed someone to make him feel better about the situation and no one else happened to be available to do that at the moment, other than him.

Their conversation was abruptly halted when they heard the distinct and whining voice of the team's Senior Field Agent as his male Nurse was bringing him towards one of the beds furthest from the others. "Aw come on Bubba!" he was saying, still calling the buff nurse by his new nickname, "I told you I _**wasn't**_ passing out in there!! I was just - just uh, giving my legs a break for a second!"

The male nurse was silent for a minute while he lifted Tony up and out of the wheelchair by grabbing him underneath his arms and then hoisting him onto the bed as if he weighed less than petite Ziva. Finally replying to Tony's non-believable excuse. "Oh yeah? Well sorry Mr. DiNozzo but when I see someone's eye's close and their knees start to buckle, I have to abide by our hospital's liability policy and make sure you didn't end up with a concussion on top of everything else - and then sue us. Now lay back and someone will be in to hook you back up to the IV and check your vitals again." He had unhooked Tony's IV prior to the shower, leaving the needle and main portal still inserted in his arm but covered with tape protecting it from the water. Tony's face still sported a surgical mask just like his teammates since those were not to be removed whenever they were near each other.

The nurse smiled in satisfaction, he felt like he had gotten the last word on this smart ass patient and that made him happy. Why was it that every patient thought they knew more than the trained medical staff? He then pushed the wheelchair in front of him as he went off to find the Doctor and tell them of the patient's dizzy spell.

Tony laid back for a second and closed his eyes, ~ _damn that was exhausting ~_ he thought. He felt as though he had just done three rounds in a boxing ring with Gibbs and had taken numerous punches to the head and torso in the process! Slowly he opened his eyes and decided to look around and regain his bearings. He was curious to see if Ziva had been brought back in yet and seeing no sign of her he wondered how she was doing with the whole rape exam he knew she would have to endure. Pulling his head up slightly he continued to scan the room, his eyes finally stopping when he saw his boss and junior agent both staring at him with smug looks on their faces and a mixture of laughter and worry evident in their eyes.

"What?" Tony asked them.

Gibbs looked down and then just shook his head while flashing his usual half grin. It was Timothy who actually answered his question. "I thought DiNozzo's didn't pass out there Tony – so uh, what gives? I guess you can't say that anymore huh?" McGee laughed and realized how good it felt to take his mind of the worry for a moment and fall back into the usual brotherly teasing that he and Tony had perfected down to a science.

"Listen McOverreact" Tony began to respond, realizing that his boss and partner had heard his conversation with the nurse. "You simply misunderstood the entire conversation. That never happened. That -" he was then caught up in a sudden coughing spell that seemed to come right out of nowhere! He was gasping for breath by the time the coughing subsided. He had dropped back down on the pillow, even more exhausted than before.

Then in typical Tony fashion his head rose back up and he threw another retort over to Gibbs and McGee in an effort to lighten the mood and shift their focus off of worrying about him.

"Alright fella's - don't be calling Ducky to come pick up the body just yet! I just had a tickle in my throat – and that's ALL!" then he changed the subject, "Have you heard anything about Ziva yet boss?" he asked, shifting gears completely but mainly due to his own worry over her well being, having been far more intense than that of his own.

Gibbs knew very well that the cough was not just a 'tickle' as he called it, but he could also see by the haunted look in his senior agent's eyes that he was just as sick with worry, as he was from whatever poison Saleem had injected him with. "No, nothing yet." he finally answered. The three men each looked around at the other empty beds and tried not to think about what their newly found team member was having to suffer through. It was just too painful for them to absorb since they all felt like they should have been able to somehow protect her, as unrealistic as that sounded, they just all felt helpless and guilty regardless.

Thankfully the main physician entered the room, breaking them from their spiraling guilt. He made a bee line to Tony's bed. "Well well Agent DiNozzo, it sounds like you had an eventful shower. How do you feel now? Any dizziness, do you still feel light headed in any way?"

Tony huffed in frustration, "Ahhh, so it looks like my new buddy Bubba just threw me under the bus now didn't he?" he commented still trying to avert the attention while not having to answer the question.

The physician knew all too well what he was doing, he had not only been forewarned by the man's immediate supervisor Agent Gibbs, but he had also been doing this far too long not to be able to spot clever patients like this in a heartbeat. "Well, I'm sure you won't mind if I go ahead and see for myself then, just how you are doing." he then proceeded to examine Tony, first pulling his eyes open one by one and flashing his penlight back and forth. He checked his pulse, re-started him on the awaiting IV, clipped the pulse monitor onto his finger and listened to his lungs and heart with his stethoscope.

"Okay, well it looks like now that you are off your feet, you are doing much better. I think we can just assume that you need to remain that way if we want to avoid another fainting spell - er, well - whatever _you _want to call it."

/ / / / / /

Just then the door to the main ward opened as Ziva was wheeled back into the large room. She stared straight ahead with her eyes never wavering or acknowledging any member of her team in any way. She still had an IV in her arm with the bag hanging from tall metal hook affixed to the back of the wheelchair, but she looked cleaner and more fresh faced having finally been finally allowed to shower with the assistance of a nurse. She had been so relieved when the doctor announced that she had obtained all of the trace evidence she could possibly gather and proceeded to give Ziva permission to finally wash her damaged body. They had covered all of her bandages with waterproof tape and removed her IV just as they had allowed with Tony – and only for the duration of the shower.

Ziva wanted nothing more than to finally be able to scrub away as much of the dirt, grime and worst of all - the nauseating scent of Saleem that she could still smell all over her as though it had been burned into the inside of her nostrils. She had used more soap and shampoo in one shower than she typically used in a week. She scrubbed until her skin was red from the abuse but she still felt as though she hadn't even begun to get clean. She didn't know if she ever would again.

But after stepping out and starting to dry herself off, she suddenly started to feel nauseas again and noticed that her already dried off face was now wet again but this time from a heavy sheen of sweat that had accumulated from the exertion. The Nurse yelled into the showering facility a couple of times to just check up on her and she always said she was fine. She refused to tell them about her illness because in a disturbing way she felt as though she deserved whatever illness she was coming down with. She had been the one who started this whole nightmare simply by falling in love with someone who later turned out to be lying to her, using her.

Tony was the one whom had paid the price and all he had been doing was trying to protect her and watch her back just as he always had. He had _**not**_ betrayed her as she had accused him of doing – she merely wanted someone else to blame so she did not have to face her own demons and her own guilt. What had she done? What had she put him through?

It was that unstoppable chain of events that led her to Africa and to Saleem - and now she had the added guilt of knowing that Tony and McGee had been injured and risked their own lives just to come find her and save her – or simply avenge for her death if that had been the outcome.

She felt she deserved to be raped, beaten, disowned by her Father, and now – she deserved to suffer from physical pain and illness as well. She almost smiled when she thought of what Tony would probably say to her again right now, "_Get over yourself"_ he had said – and now she realized that he was probably right in some prophetic way. She did need to get over herself, and to do that – she may just have to leave everyone behind. ~_ It would be safer that way_ ~ she thought. ~ _For them.~_

/ / / / / /

Once they had settled Ziva back into her own bed and re-attached her to her own IV, she purposely closed her eyes and feigned sleep, which eventually wasn't necessary as her body succumbed to her exhaustion and she fell deep into a real sleep. A sleep that would soon be disrupted by nightmares as the night wore on.

The Doctor knew that he had an obligation to inform Agent Gibbs of the unpleasant findings related to Ziva's exam. He had to since it was part of the ongoing case. All evidence and samples were being kept safe until Abby would arrive with Ducky by morning and could then begin to analyze the findings.

While Ziva was no longer awake the Doctor had pulled Gibbs aside to inform him of what the exam had uncovered. He shared the unfortunate fact that Ziva's abuse had definitely included one or more sexual attacks and that she would have a long road ahead of her as far as emotional recovery was concerned. He told Gibbs that the bite marks would fade and should not leave any scarring so she shouldn't have to deal with any permanent reminders of the rape. At least not physically anyway – psychologically however was a different story. He informed him of recently healed scars found on her back that suggested a whipping of some kind, as well as evidence of a fractured zygomatic bone which he described as one of the bones in her cheek that was most likely injured by numerous punches to her face and eye, and barely detectable evidence of a near strangling as a light pink line was found around her neck with subtle bruising almost fully healed and fading. That had already healed as well and seemed to be mending in proper alignment so there would be no need to re-break and reset the bone.

Gibbs was filled with rage and resentment, combined with overwhelming guilt over not finding her before she had endured all of that suffering. Had it not been for Tony's incessant persistence, Gibbs wondered if he would have ever pushed with that kind of tenacity to find her and bring her back home. Sure, he had been trying to track her somewhat, but he had already moved on and even hired a couple of replacements for Ziva. ~ "_Dammit all to hell!!"_ ~ he said to himself as he walked back over towards his bed once the Doctor had made his exit, promising to check back in with them later during the night.

"What is it boss?! What did the Doctor have to say about Ziva?" McGee's purposely whispering voice cut through Gibbs' own self talk and only then did he realize that he hadn't just _thought_ those last few words in his head, he had actually uttered them **aloud** which only managed to alert his two agents that were still awake.

He made the decision to tell his men what the Doctor had said, knowing that it would affect them just as it had with him, but knowing that they needed to know if they were going to be able to help her. Gathering with the two of them at Tony's bed to deliver the somber news.

About an hour later both Gibbs and McGee had finally succumbed to their own exhausted body's demands to sleep, while Tony was not so lucky. He had propped himself up in bed just enough so that he could keep an eye on his former partner Ziva, anger boiling deep inside of him and threatening to spill over and take him down. He silently observed each and every inch of her as she lay in fitful sleep, obviously struggling with sickening nightmares of that bastard Saleem and possibly some of his men! That filthy son of a bitch!! Tony thought, the anger getting very close to peaking.

Suddenly it was as if the adrenaline that his body had been producing and building as his anger raged on, finally reached the dangerous point of no return when he finally lost all control and acted upon his own conflicted feelings of anger, worry, quilt and remorse. Ripping the IV roughly out of his arm, leaving a bloody mess in it's place, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, unsure of where he was going but knowing that he had to get out! He had to go somewhere! Anywhere but here!

Then with a growling roar he yelled while taking his anger out on anything in sight, starting with the heart monitor, IV pole and any other devices that stood in his path – savagely hurling them to the floor with the wild swinging of his arms. The louder the noise it made, the better it made him feel in a very disconcerting way.

Moving beyond the mess of now broken equipment, he proceeded to stumble forward while sweat mixed with tears ran down his face and clouded his eyesight. Blood dripping down his arm from where he had ripped out his IV.

By this time everyone in the ward was awakened including Ziva, her heart now in her throat as she came to the mind numbing realization that Tony knew. They had told him what she had gone through! Dammit! She thought, why would they do that, didn't they know how that would affect him?! She watched in silent horror, looking over towards Gibbs to see he and McGee already moving across the room with speed that an Olympic athlete would be in awe of.

Before they could get to their friend and keep him from running or hurting himself any further, they were not quite to him yet when they watched in horror as Tony violently punched his fist into the wall right in front of him not only breaking all the way through the tough plaster and dry wall, but breaking some bones in the process. The sound of the bones breaking far surpassing that of the innocent wall.

Tony yelled out in pain, both physical and emotional and then turned around, a mess of blood, sweat and tears - his legs wobbling dangerously as though he was just about to pass out and fall to the floor from the pain and loss of adrenaline that was no longer surging through his veins. He saw a blurry vision of his boss in front of him as he then felt the familiar support of Gibbs' strong arms underneath his own - simply attempting to help him down to the floor so he wouldn't hurt himself any further by falling down.

After sliding down to the floor on the spot, he leaned his head back against the wall, cradling his injured and now bleeding hand against his chest. He could smell and feel Gibbs right beside him as his body finally gave in completely to the pain and fatigue, his last conscious thought was of Ziva as he heard his boss yell to McGee to get someone in there to help. And then he was out.

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_**I really hope you like this chapter! I had been struggling with where to take this chapter and I am pretty excited about how it turned out. Pls review and let me know what you though!**_

_**Thx! :-D**_


	11. The Forgotten Rage

_**A/N - I still have to proof this chapter one more time so I promise I will fix any missed errors later. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and thank you for the always amazing and detailed reviews - I love you all for taking the time to tell me what you think!**_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on - "The Consequences Of The Truth":**_

_After sliding down to the floor on the spot, he leaned his head back against the wall, cradling his injured and now bleeding hand against his chest. He could smell and feel Gibbs right beside him as his body finally gave in completely to the pain and fatigue, his last conscious thought was of Ziva as he heard his boss yell to McGee to get someone in there to help. _

_And then he was out._

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XI**

**_Somalian Hospital Isolation Ward _. . .**

Gibbs had waited before allowing himself to fall asleep. Only until he was able to look around the room and see all three of his team members breathing evenly in definite slumber, did he let himself follow suit. He was damn proud of all three of them and he decided then and there that he would do whatever it took to help see them through this latest challenge and that he would tell them at some point how proud they made him – he knew that would be the hard part since he was not good with speaking from the heart. But they had become like family to him at this point and since he lost his real family before he got the chance to tell them how much he loved them, he wasn't going to make that same mistake twice.

Only forty minutes had gone by when he suddenly woke up from a dead sleep, anxiety settling in as he felt the all too familiar feeling if his gut as if it were warning him that something was brewing, something bad. Then he heard it, a howling yell coming from the direction of his senior agent's bed – Gibbs shot up into a sitting position his hand automatically reaching to where he usually wore his holster, instinctively clawing for a gun that wasn't there after sensing that one of his team was in trouble. It took him a moment to get his bearings and for his eyes to adjust to the now darkened room.

Looking to his left he noticed McGee had now bolted upright as well, they looked at each other both startled after hearing an almost animal like growl followed by the deafening sound of equipment being smashed either against a wall, or to the floor. Within seconds the two men were in motion moving swiftly towards Tony's bed as if the room was on fire. Gibbs was first to get to where Tony had moved to, seeing his agent stumbling his way towards the exit. But before he could get close enough to grab him, his eyes widened in stunned shock as he realized what Tony was about to do as his right arm came swinging back.

Gibbs lurched forward hoping to catch the swinging fist but he was just too far away at the time. He and McGee both froze as they now had no choice but to watch in horror as their friend's fist continued on it's dangerous path and connected with the innocent wall with enough force to break all the way through in a sickening crack.

Then it was almost as if time stopped completely. McGee stood there still frozen in place trying to comprehend what had triggered the outburst.

Gibbs had also frozen but only for a few seconds before he set forth once again to get to his agent's side. At first he was worried that Tony might attempt to strike something else or worse yet, flee the room entirely. But as he drew closer, he could easily see the damaged hand that Tony now held onto tightly while he whimpered ever so slightly from the pain as his adrenaline clearly had become more than depleted. The next thing Gibbs noticed since he was now close enough to see things more clearly, was Tony's legs shaking as they began to betray him as gravity pulled him down.

He quickly reached under his man's arms and held most of Tony's weight while slowly guiding him down the rest of the way to the floor. Before doing so he had already yelled to McGee to "_Get someone in here - NOW!"_

A handful of nurses and two doctors had been within earshot of the Isolation Ward and turned their heads in surprise as they heard a man's loud voice reverberating down the hallway. It was nearly 2:30 am when Agent Timothy McGee had come running through the swinging doors and into the hall where he instantly started yelling for someone to come and help them. He knew damn well that they were under strict orders not to exit the ward at any time for any reason, but right now he couldn't care less whether it was allowed or not since he had to get help for his partner before he harmed himself any further or worse yet, hurt anyone else. Tim didn't even have time to think about just what could have possibly provoked Tony to begin that wild rampage.

Tim had already bolted to get the doctor's so he wasn't there to see Tony finally fall into the bliss of unconsciousness.

While Tim was causing his own commotion outside of the ward, things were still not exactly calm, inside the ward. Ziva had cautiously pulled herself out of bed, then not bothering to slip on the small slippers waiting next to her bed, just as she began to head towards Gibbs and Tony, pulling her wheeled IV post behind her – Gibbs sharply whispered a warning to her that she needed to hold her ground.

The look on his face spoke volumes. She could easily read what his eyes were saying - her former boss obviously had a feeling that once Tony regained consciousness which would be any minute, that his anger would most likely soar again if Ziva's faces were one of the first that he laid eyes on upon wakening.

That was the last thing she wanted to see happen so she sullenly turned around and, cautious of her own tender injuries, she climbed back onto her bed, not even bothering to get under the covers, but laying back in an effort to sink down just a bit to make sure she was out of Tony's direct line of sight when he did come around. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she fought to keep them from spilling over. She felt actual physical pain deep inside her heart at the thought of how much hurt and suffering she still managed to inflict upon her partner and this time without even trying.

Gibbs sighed in relief as he noticed Ziva had understood his wordless warning to stay clear, he then immediately turned his attention back to his masked and now moving agent.

"Tony, Tony? Can you hear me? Hey, you with me?" he said as he lightly tapped each side of his face to get him to snap out of his groggy state. "Tony?"

He could tell his agent was getting closer to opening his eyes so while waiting, Gibbs took a moment to scan Tony's body, checking to see if he had caused himself any other new injuries aside from his obviously broken hand and possibly fractured wrist.

Gibbs cringed at the sight of the raw flesh that was bleeding from where the plaster and dry wall had scraped off layers of skin. He almost felt the pain the injury must be causing as he continued to stare down at the now misshapen hand as it sat limply in Tony's lap.

Then just as two doctors and two nurses came running through the entrance with Tim following closely behind them, Gibbs finally smiled as he noticed the green yet bloodshot eyes that were finally staring back at him, dazed and confused. He could practically see the wheels in Tony's head turning as he fought to get his mind to recollect what had happened and why he was currently seated on the floor - **and** in pain.

"Ya okay now DiNozzo?" he asked him in a gentle but firm tone of voice.

"Uh . . . " Tony started to answer then paused to look around, still getting his bearings. "What – what happened?" he finally asked.

"Nah, trust me, it'll come back to ya soon enough. Ya think you can stand Tony? Here, I gotcha – just let me help you up."

It was then as Tony moved to get ready to raise himself up off the floor with the help of his boss, that his new injuries finally announced themselves in the form of overwhelming pain that stemmed from his hand and traveled up his arm as it reached a new level of intensity. Now that the protection of the spiked adrenaline and the fog in his brain had dissipated somewhat, his nerve endings were now ablaze with pain. Then, just when he thought it was already becoming too much to bare, he further aggravated the wound when he had accidentally jarred the busted limb.

"Yowza! What the hel-!" he froze right in the middle of the cuss word as a small piece of his memories suddenly came rushing back. He had a light recollection of punching the wall as his momentary flashback revealed that final part of the event. He could see his hand as it disappeared into the newly formed hole. _What had made him so angry? _he thought as he fought to recall what had caused him to react in such a way.

He still felt somewhat out of it from numerous medications that were still heavy in his system, combined with the bodies natural way of protecting the mind after a traumatic event - similar to PSTD in it's earliest stages. Gibbs immediately picked up on Tony's sudden pause, he could tell his senior agent was remembering something – and whatever memory it was had stopped him in his tracks.

"Look, we need to get you off this floor, now how about you stop trying to piece the whole day back together in a matter of seconds and help me get you back to your bed - you can do that just as easily from there." Gibbs finally took charge of the situation since he could see that Tony was desperately trying to recall more details as to what had spurred his angry rampage. He held up most of his agent's weight as he practically lifted him up to a still slightly unstable standing position, being extra careful not to further jar the arm that Tony was now holding tightly against his chest again.

Together they made it over to Tony's bed, bypassing all of the now destroyed equipment that Gibbs was sure that NCIS would be forced to pay for. Still dazed and completely exhausted, Tony numbly sat down on the edge of his hospital bed, leaned back against the pillow in a slightly upright position while he felt Gibbs strong arms lifting his feet and legs up so they too were now stretched out on top of the bed.

Suddenly the doctors and nurses seemed to swarm on the bed like awaiting vultures, eager to get to their patient and inspect the damage. Even more eager to find out what had happened to provoke the sickest agent of the group and add more injuries on top of the ones he was already struggling to heal from. One doctor gently pulled on Gibbs' arm, giving him a clear indication that they needed him to step aside, if only for a few moments while they assessed the man in the bed. Gibbs stepped back by just a few paces, staying close enough to keep an eye on his man while one of the nurses almost immediately started cleaning and bandaging the small agitated hole in his arm that the IV needle once occupied.

The other nurse had exited the ward having been instructed to bring back the necessary materials to clean and temporarily wrap Tony's hand until a portable X-ray machine could be brought in - but also to fetch the replacement equipment and everything they needed to re-insert a new IV among other things.

The nurse remaining at Tony's side, positioned directly across from the doctors so as to stay out of their way, kept herself occupied by wiping down Tony's face down with a cool wet cloth ridding his face of the sweat that both his illness _**and**_ his rampage had caused.

Once she had finished, Dr. Keenan stepped in and started to examine his patient. Starting with the familiar flashing of his pen light into Tony's eyes just as he had done earlier in the evening. While he was doing that, the other Doctor, Dr. Ahmed Mensah, attempted to lighten the mood since it was clear to him when they first rushed into the ward, that the air was heavy with sadness and despair.

"Well Agent DiNozzo, one can't say you don't make things lively around here, that's for certain." He teased while he busied himself by lightly inspecting the man's still slowly bleeding hand. He prided himself in being very in tune with his patients mental and emotional well being. It was mostly due to his African upbringing since his Mother was a Psychology Professor and she had taught him so many things.

Before Tony could acknowledge the man's comments, Dr. Keenan spoke next. He on the other hand was _**not**_ in a joking mood. Seeing that his already ailing patient had a new gruesome injury to add to the mix only angered him. The special agent certainly didn't need this on top of everything else. But since Keenan himself was unusually agitated due to his own fatigue he could also oddly relate to the man's violent outburst since he himself had only been able to catch about 4 hours of sleep in a 24 hr period, and that made for one unhappy camper.

"Yes Agent DiNozzo that you certainly do. Now, care to tell us what the hell happened here? I might be tired by I certainly don't recall your hand being shaped like that the last time I examined you." he stated firmly but forcing himself to lighten up a bit. Both Gibbs and McGee shared a nervous glance since they knew what had sparked Tony's outburst but neither of them wanted to share that with the doctors. In fact both of them silently hoped that it would be a while before Tony's full memory of the incident came back to him.

"Well Doc, I sure wish I could tell ya but, I keep tryin' to remember what happened and I can't seem to recall much about it. All I can see if my hand going through the wall and that's – about it." he stated looking more dejected than before.

"Why can't I remember that Doc?" Tony asked, "I mean it was like, ten minutes ago!" he added, pushing his head harshly back into the pillow having no where else to focus his anger. The pillow seemed to be his safest target at this point.

"Don't beat yourself up about it Mr. DiNozzo, there are numerous things that can cause a person to forget an event either temporarily or sometimes permanently. I am sure it will come back to you in time. It could even be from something such as PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is more common than you think and can cause people to experience momentary blackouts and spotty patches of memory. Your body has been through a lot in the last 48 hours, it's going to take time for your body and your mind to heal from that."

Ziva cringed and shrank deeper into her bed, finally pulling her covers up all the way under her chin. She held herself 100 percent responsible for Tony's current condition and especially if he did have any form of PTSD. She knew at that moment that she would have to find a way to apologize to him and make it right - no matter what the cost.

"Na-aah come onnn! I don't have PTSD?" Tony's voice suddenly cut through Ziva's thoughts, "How could I have that? I mean, that's something long time war veterans get after being on the front line or being in some tragic bombing or something. . . - uh . . . isn't it?"

This time Gibbs had had quite enough, not only was he angry that the Doctors seemed to be moving at the pace of a drugged turtle, he also didn't like how Dr. Keenan just threw out the term PSTD without batting an eye and realizing the severity of a diagnosis like that. In all of Gibbs' entire career he had always heard that one had to have a psychological evaluation along with physical in order to make a diagnosis as serious as that!

"Tony, listen to me." he stated as he moved to the bottom of his agent's bed, gabbing a hold of his lower leg and squeezing lightly and reassuringly. "The last thing you need to be worrying about right now is that! You need to let them get your hand X-rayed and set and then you need to get some sleep! We can talk about all of this in the morning. It's 3:00 am right now and I'm sure all of us need to get some shut eye – the doctors included!"

"Okay got it boss." Tony agreed sounding weaker than he had all day. "Doc, maybe I don't want to remember right now anyway now that I think about it. I mean, it was obviously something that upset me so . . . well I guess it's probably best that I don't go there again tonight. Now can ya give me somethin' for my hand Doc? It's killin me!"

Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief regarding Tony's wise decision. He knew that if they were going to get any semblance of sleep the rest of the evening it would be reliant on Tony _not _recalling the devastating news he was given about Ziva.

Finally Gibbs decided it was safe for him to at least attempt to turn in once again. He reached out and patted Tony's leg a couple of times before heading back over to his own bed, he certainly hadn't missed what Tony had just requested of the doctor and he knew without a doubt that for Tony to actually ASK for pain medication - _and_ in front of him no less, it was a clear indication that his agent's level of pain was unbelievably intense because he never would have allowed his boss to hear him ask for any kind of help, mainly because he felt that it showed a sign of weakness.

Gibbs made a mental note to tell Tony in the morning that quite the opposite was true. That asking for help when you needed it, showed strength and intelligence, there was nothing weak about it. As he climbed back underneath his own covers, Gibbs had no intention of going back to sleep until Tony did. He would watch and wait until the Doctors had at least wrapped his agent's hand and arm since it looked like they had decided to wait and do the X-rays in the morning. Then once he knew for sure that Tony wasn't going to remember the news about Ziva – only then would he allow himself to relax enough to get some much needed sleep.

McGee had followed his bosses' example and had gone straight to his bed as well, but he had been so wiped out from his time as a prisoner of Saleem, that he was almost out before his head had even hit the pillow.

Ziva on the other hand, had to wait a little longer before she could follow suit. Nurse Oriana Surey had long since returned with all of the supplies and equipment that she had been sent out to get earlier, she had delivered everything to the doctors and was then instructed to go check on the female patient and complete the routine check of her vitals.

The young nurse was thorough as she checked on Ziva's IV, adjusting the drip slightly and then after checking all of her main vital signs per their usual routine she jotted down the results one by one on the standard clipboard that each of the patients had so the medical staff could monitor their conditions for signs of improvement or declining health.

Oriana was quick to notice that the naturally exotic looking patient still had a lower than normal blood pressure reading as well as very pale and clammy skin that was warm to the touch. After taking the woman's temperature she silently noted the number on the clipboard and told the patient to get some rest, then turning on her heels she headed back across the room to where the physicians were just finishing up securing the good looking male agent's hand for the night – strapping it to his chest to immobilize the limb temporarily. She knew they had given the agent heavy pain medication to get him through the night causing the patient to finally drift off into a painless sleep but all of them could easily hear the sound of light wheezing that emanated from deep within the man's chest as his breathing became more labored as the night wore on.

"Nurse Surey," Dr. Keenan stated as he turned to address the young nurse, "I need you to alert the nursing staff on duty tonight that I want this man to be checked on at regular 30 minute intervals – no exceptions! I don't like how that chest is sounding and I have seen patients go from slight wheezing to full respiratory distress in under an hour." everyone who knew Dr. Keenan, knew how cranky he got when working on too little sleep – but no Doctor had more compassion and dedication when it came to caring for his patients, so dealing with his moodier moments was something they all had learned to ignore and not take his harsher tone personally.

"Yes Doctor, that will not be a problem, we have a full staff tonight."

Before Keenan continued giving the nurses his final instructions for the evening, he moved them all closer to the door so as not to be overheard or disturb the worn out group.

"Okay now, Dr. Mensah will be overseeing things while I get some overdue sleep. He's been fully briefed on each of the patient's and he's aware of Agent DiNozzo's history of lung problems. Given that we still don't know how this mystery illness is going to progress, I want to be alerted if there is any new concerning symptoms that arise. I want you to schedule four new vials of Agent DiNozzo's blood to be taken at 0600 and sent to the lab, I want the full panel of tests to be run."

"Yes Doctor, now I need to also alert you to some changes in Ms. David's vital signs. I just took her temperature after noticing that her skin had become overly warm. Here are the results from the digital thermometer reading." she stated as she handed him the clipboard.

Looking down at the hand written number she had pointed out to him, he then handed it over to his associate since Dr. Mensah was taking over for the next few hours.

"Well," Mensah started to comment, "Looks like we have two patients in this ward who need to be monitored every 30 minutes." he announced after reading the patient's temperature;

102.3 degrees.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

I slightly recall ending another chapter (in this story or another) in a similar fashion - only it was Tony's fever that was spiking. So excuse my repetitive faux pas (fo-paws) but I needed to call attention to her worsening condition as well so it had to be done. :-)

**Pls read and review! :-D**


	12. New Visitors

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_**Previously on "The Consequences Of The Truth":**_

"_. . . here are the results from the digital thermometer reading." she stated as she handed him the clipboard showing Ziva's tracked vitals and other chart notes._

_Looking down at the hand written number she had pointed out to him, he then handed it over to his associate since Dr. Mensah was taking over for the next few hours. "Well," Mensah started to comment, "Looks like we have two patients in this ward who need to be monitored every 30 minutes." he announced after reading the patient's temperature;_

_102.3 degrees._

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**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XII**

_**Somalian Hospital Isolation Ward **_**. . .**

Tony's new injury was now wrapped and secured tightly against his chest, the Doctor had decided to postpone the X-rays until a few hours later when the morning was officially underway so that everyone could get more much needed sleep. He had he determined that there would be no harm in waiting to take the films since the arm no longer seemed to be causing the agent too much trouble or pain now that they had restricted it's movement by strapping it to his chest.

After the Doctors and other nurses had left the ward, one nurse stayed behind to watch over the group. She was currently tending to the agent with the new injury after noticing the glimmering sheen of sweat that had developed on is skin, a sure sign that his fever was rising slowly and a possible indication of his worsening condition, she had donned a bowl of cool water and a washcloth and was now taking gentle care in wiping his face with the cool cloth in an effort to sooth him and hopefully keep his temperature for spiking any further. She was the same nurse who determined that Ziva had a developing fever as well so she planned to give the same preventative treatment to her as well.

Though she was sure she wouldn't enjoy taking care of that patient nearly as much as she did with this one. She admired every handsome feature on the face that she was currently tending to and she had smiled when she saw his eyes start to drift closed right after she had started the sponge bath as he finally succumbed to the tranquilizers he had been given, but surely encouraged on by the cool strokes of the soft cotton cloth against his skin.

Gibbs, Tim and Ziva had all fallen back to sleep with hopes that no further drama would ensue before morning. It seemed like only minutes had passed when the morning nursing staff entered the room and turned on the overhead lights as they brought in various breakfast trays and medications as they made the first rounds of the day. 0600 hours Gibbs noticed after glancing at the wall clock. He usually prided himself that he was up no later than 0500 on most days, but he knew that the interruptions along with the grueling mission and months of up and down emotions over Ziva's alleged death – all contributed to everyone's current state of exhaustion.

As he sat up on the edge of his bed, he reached to grab a light robe that each of the had laying on the end of their beds. He wanted to check on Tony and Ziva just to see for himself how they were faring. Ziva had been awake for a while now and she felt awful. There was a growing nausea and overall feeling of fatigue and warmth. She was alternating between feeling like she was melting, to feeling as though she would freeze to death in a matter of minutes. Without thinking, she raised a shaky hand up to wipe the light sweat from her forehead not at all realizing it was brought on by fever. She lazily stared across the room towards Tony's bed and smiled slightly as she watched him sleeping. He looked peaceful for the first time since she had first laid eyes on him when they were both strapped to chairs in Saleem's camp. Suddenly another face appeared in front of her, cutting off her obsessive observation of her former partner. She turned her focus to the figure standing at the end of her bed and realized quickly that it was Gibbs.

"How are you feeling Ziva? I have to say, I've seen you look better." He stated as he took in her pale and shaky appearance. "Do you need me to get the Doctor?"

"No, no Gibbs really, I am fine. They could sure do with a better HVAC system here though, it's hot one minute and cold the next."

Gibbs walked closer to the side of her bed, then gently pulled up her covers so that it was tucked just underneath her chin. "That David is a fever – NOT a problem with the hospital ventilation. You just rest, I am going to check on Tony – and THEN I am getting one of those Doctor's in here."

She found herself to weak and fatigued to even begin to object, only nodding her head slightly while her eyes slid shut into a fevered slumber again.

Within just seconds Gibbs was already half way across the room to Tony's bed. Upon arriving he noticed his agent was still out, most likely from the light sedation forced into him by the physician after the bone head stunt he had pulled most likely causing him to bust his own his hand in the process. He couldn't help but notice how flushed his agent had become and much more so than mere hours ago when he had last observed his most Senior agent. Yet the palor of the skin that was flushed seemed that much more transparent in contrast.

"How's Tony Boss? Should I get a Doctor in here?"

Anyone else would have flinched upon the sudden voice that sounded out of nowhere, anyone but the amazing Gibbs whom had detected the cushioned sound of a sock clad McGee as he made his way over to stand beside his leader.

"Don't know Tim. But I don't need a Doctor to tell me he looks like hell."

McGee took in his partner's sickly yet peaceful appearance and somberly pondered the worst case scenario. What if Tony never made it through this one? What if this was the ultimate final battle that he would not succeed in concurring just he had so many other times in the past. Then he realized how negative he was being and after mentally kicking himself for the depressing thoughts, he decided that for Tony's sake he should only be positive even if he had to force himself to believe he would make it through this too. "So maybe I should get the Doctor then, right?" Tim continued to suggest after being unable to decipher the conflicting response he had received from his boss. Then before he received an answer to his nervous question, he himself was the one who flinched when a new voice sounded out below him.

"I'm not dying yet McDreary." came Tony's voice though his eyes remained closed.

"Uh . . . er well. . . yeah Tony I – I know . . . but I – "

Before Tony could even begin to tease his stuttering cohort - a high pitched sqealing noise startled ALL of them causing Tony's eyes to flash open and all three of the men's head's to look towards the entrance to the ward.

"OhmyGod, ohmyGod, ohmyGod are you guys all okay! OhmyGod we've been so so sooo worried – I swear that was the longest flight of my entire life – it seemed like days to get here!" Abby came practically hopping through the door followed by a silent and smirking Dr. Donald Mallard. Gibbs smiled one or his rare full out warm smiles as soon as he realized his long time friend and favorite forensic scientist had finally arrived to help with the investigation and process Salim's body among other things.

"Geez Abs, d'ya ever think someone might be trying to sleep in here?" Tony teased her hoping that his voice didn't sound as weak to everyone else as it just did to him.

"OhmyGod Tonyyyyy!" she cried out, running over to his bedside and pushing Gibbs right out of the way. Stopping suddenly in her track as she realized what she had just done. McGee, Tony and Ducky all watched in anticipation to see how Gibbs reacted to her dismissal and physical push.

"Uhh, oh – ohmygosh I am so sorry Gibbs!" she blurted out while throwing her arms around him like a football player making a tackle. "I was worried about you too Gibbs! And you McGee!" Abby tried too hard to rectify her neglect over acknowledging everyone else. "And Ziva too! Wait where is she Gibbs?"

Gibbs grin had only grown wider as he watched the life that his little lab rat had just blown into the room with her very hyperactive presence. His team was together now and together they could fight anyone or anything and for just a second the lead agent was nearly overcome with an exhausted emotion as he realized then and there just how much each and every one of them meant to him.

"Abby she's fine too, she's right over there." Gibbs answered her, pointing out Ziva's sleeping form across the room.

"Awwww, she looks so cute doesn't she? Oh my gosh it's been like forever since we've seen here! She looks really tiny Gibbs – are you absolutely for sure positive that she's okay? For reals?"

Gibbs almost chuckled out loud as he answered, "Yes Abs, for . . . reals." He had given up trying to understand Abby's very unique language.

Then Abby felt suddenly torn as she stood there looking back and forth between Tony and Ziva, not knowing who to run to and hug first. It was Duck who finally helped her make the decision she was obviously struggling with. "My dear Abigail I think it's best that we do not disrupt Ziva at the moment, she obviously needs her rest after the long ordeal she has just been through." He advised.

Abby nodded in agreement and in less than two seconds had already turned to throw her arms around the agent whom she looked upon as the big Brother she never had. Her actions elicited a loud howl of pain from the man in the bed as she unknowingly leaned against his fractured hand in the process. She had been told that none of them were really injured and just that Tony had been feeling very ill. No one had time to alert her to his latest injuries - nor what had brought them on for that matter since she and Ducky had been on the plane at that time anyhow.

"Aaauuugghhh!" Tony hollered.

A loud gasp came out of Abby's shocked mouth and she immediately pulled back as if Tony's skin had burned her. "Oh my gosh what is wrong? What did I do? Tony –talkto-me -are you okay? OhmyGod I am sooo sorry!"

"Abby!" Tony had to stop her rant in order to answer her and ease her mind. Otherwise he knew she would just keep apologizing before even knowing what she was apologizing for! "I'm find Abby – you didn't know. Really it's fine so stop apologizing. Besides, you _know_ how Gibbs feels about _that_!" he reminded her.

McGee decided to explain a little further since Tony had not mentioned is newest injury. "He might have a broken hand Abby, or wrist – we don't know yet. But it's a long story so I am sure Tony doesn't want to talk about that right now. There will be plenty of time later after we get our work done and get outta here."

"Thanks McGee – just for that I am calling you by your actual given name for a change." Tony stated just before losing himself in a coughing fit as his chest seemed to spasm in agonizing tightness. Abby being closest to him, eased him forward to gently pat his back until the fit was over – cautious this time of his wrapped hand she hadn't noticed before due to her excitement and worry over finally being here and seeing him. As she eased him back Gibbs and Ducky were exchanging silent glances of concern.

"Duck?" Gibbs said, looking to his trustworthy friend for help.

"I will go fetch the Doctor on call, and I shall be back in short order." He said as he quickly exited the ward.

"Gibbs I'm fine really. I just had a tickle in my throat that's all." Tony tried to convince everyone, knowing full well that the raspy and barely there voice that came out contradicted the words he was speaking - his spent body falling back against the mattress as if the very act of speaking had been too much for it to handle.

The only response he received from his boss was a stern glare that spoke volumes without him physically having to talk. The blue eyed glare said _"I don't buy that for one second DiNozzo - and I know you don't either!"_

Abby started fussing and tucking while being as delicate in her movements as a surgeon stitching a hole in someone's heart. She fluffed Tony's pillow and pulled his covers up a little higher though now mindful of his freshly injured wrist. The whole while she fussed with him she purposely ignored the continuous stare Tony was giving her she just did all she could to make sure he looked comfortable and felt completely taken care of. She ignored his looks of annoyance because she knew all too well that he was only doing it so that everyone else in the room would think he hated being nurtured and fussed over. Abby knew he would never admit it to anyone but that he secretly yearned to having someone shower him him love and concern since that was something he lacked during his entire life prior to becoming part of the NCIS team/family.

Tony finally closed his eyes after losing his battle to remain awake despite wanting to keep giving his own version of the 'Gibbs glare' to Abby – even though he knew full well that she always saw right through it. This time he mainly put on that little show for McGee's sake. After all, he couldn't have his junior agent knowing that he secretly enjoyed Abby's loving and attentive care – because Tony knew that even though Tim would never admit it, he looked up to Tony as just as much of a mentor as he looked at Gibbs. As Tony drifted off, the smallest hint of a smile played on his lips as he realized that every member of the team – including their fearless leader - probably had something to hide, something about themselves that they didn't want the rest of the team to know. All of them wanted to appear strong and overly confident in their every action – when in reality every one of them had secret insecurities.

_Well, with the exception of Palmer_ Tony thought with amusement, _Palmer pretty much displayed all of his insecurities for all to see._ But somehow that worked for him and actually made him more endearing in some ways. But hell would have to freeze over before Tony would allow his own personal doubts to be displayed like that. It would never happen.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**I hope to get back on track with ALL of my stories so please don't give up on me and hang in there. I didn't leave you with a cliffie really – just to give you a break for once. **__**haha **Sorry if I missed any errors, I will try to proof again later._


	13. New Threats

_**A/N - I KNOW I KNOW! I am very bad for making you wait so long. **I apologize as my RL has me on the verge of a nervous break down, in fact I think I have already been having them on a daily basis at this pt due to all the stress in my life at every turn. I am so sorry you have to pay the price of that by waiting forever to read an update to this and my other NCIS fics! I can only hope you will be able to pick the story back up quickly and that you enjoy this newest chapter. Sorry for any missed errors or spelling goof ups - I didn't take appropriate time to proof it a second time. I will do that soon and fix errors later - only alert me to any that are really altering to the story please - thanks! So read away . . . (& please review __)_

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_**Previously on "The Consequences Of The Truth":**_

_As Tony drifted off, the smallest hint of a smile played on his lips as he realized that it seemed as though every member of the team – including their fearless leader - had something to hide, something about themselves that they didn't want the rest of the team to know. All of them wanted to appear strong and overly confident in their every action – when in reality every one of them had secret insecurities. __Well, with the exception of Palmer Tony thought with amusement, Palmer pretty much displayed all of his insecurities for all to see. But somehow that worked for him and actually made him more endearing in some ways. But hell would have to freeze over before Tony would allow his own personal doubts to be displayed like that. It would never happen._

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**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XIII**

"So Duck, care to give me your opinion as to how your favorite Senior Agent and mine is doing? I value your input as much if not more than I do that of his primary physician here." Gibb s asked the ME, trusting to get a straight forward answer - whether it was good news or bad. The two long time friends stood off to one side of the large quarantine ward to discuss what was needed from Ducky and Abby while here in Africa.

"Well Jethro, I dare say that I have seen the lad looking far better than he does now, and that I can say with all certainty. But I will give you a little good news, and that is that his condition isn't deteriorating quite as rapidly as I had anticipated. That is excellent because it gives us more time to determine just what the young man was given in that injection and hopefully be able to create an anti-toxin. Oh and what dare say happened to Anthony's hand and arm might I ask?"

Ducky asked after having noticed the obviously recent bandages and bindings that had Tony's affixed to his chest for prevention of movement.

"Yeah, that. Well that's a bit of a long story Duck so I will fill you in more on that later, but it does look like he fractured some bones in his hand and wrist so, hopefully they can fix it without requiring surgery. But regarding the rest of his condition as it stands right now, so you had expected him to be worse off at this point? Well that's good news then isn't it? Let's hope you are right and that it at least buys us more time for you and Abby to find a way to completely stop the progression of his symptoms."

Gibbs then continued to give Ducky instructions on what he needed from them now that they were here.

"The hospital had assured me that you will have 100% of their cooperation and they are going to supply you with copies of reports, scans and other tests as well as samples of everyone's blood and other evidence collected at the scene. We didn't have a lot of time to gather evidence but you should have more than enough to get you started. The Doctor has arranged for you and Abs to have complete access to the Doctor's and the Nurse's lounges in case you need a cat nap here and there having

"Oh that is quite good of them Jethro but rest assured - neither Abby nor myself would be able to stop to rest much when a member of our family is in a life or death situation.

"Yeah Ducky I know, but you did just fly across the Country so please just humor me and promise that you will rest if you need to. I can't risk having you or Abby not being at the top of your game right now – so we clear on that?"

"Yes Jethro, very clear. I promise we will take occasional breaks as needed. Now if you will point me in the direction of where they are holding the body of Saleem – I shall get started.

After Ducky left to start his autopsy and collect as much new trace evidence as he could from the body of Saleem, Gibbs walked back over to check on DiNozzo and the rest of the team, Abby was still fussing over his senior agent whom had just awoken again and was not doing a very good job of hiding the pain he was obviously feeling upon waking, Gibbs reached behind his head while his attn was focused on Abby and he gently depressed the call button to bring the Nurse in – positive that Tony was in need of more pain medication as well as probably due for another medical evaluation to determine the state of his still undiagnosed condition.

"Oh – heyyy boss" he heard Tony weakly mutter catching his full attention.

"Hey. So, how you feeling? How's that arm?"

"Nah it's fine – really, I'm doin' okay."

"Yeah DiNozzo, you look like you're doing okay." Came the ultra sarcastic reply from Gibbs.

"Okay well so I might not doing _**great **_– but . . . I am definitely better now that Abs is here!" he said while he turned his head and flashed Abby her very favorite version of his 'charm' smile, causing her own face to beam with happiness. She liked taking care of her team when they needed her, she felt almost a maternal need to do so and it gave her great satisfaction.

"Abs – I know how much you want to stay here but I really need you to get started running those samples and dissect the other evidence we have for you. We still need to better determine what exactly Saleem inflicted Tony with. Is it a bio-toxin - a straight out poison - a live virus or all of the above? These Doctors have deciphered some of that but we need more and we need it fast. I think you will do cartwheels once you see the hi-tech lab they have at your disposal"

Tony's eyes were drifting shut, but then popping back open as he was clearly trying to stay awake and listen to the discussion, afraid he might miss something. Abby looked down at him as his eyes finally closed and stayed that way. Her expression changed from happy to somber in seconds, it was as if the severity of the situation was just settling in. Gibbs immediately noticed the glistening tears that were just about to spill over onto her porcelain cheeks, walking around to her side of the hospital bed, he turned her shoulders towards him and she quickly enveloped him into a deep hug, letting the tears finally fall freely onto his strong shoulder. Hoping somehow she could pass on her fear and worry over for him to carry so she could focus on what she needed to do in the lab.

She swore hugs from Gibbs had magical powers because they always made her feel 100% better and stronger within minutes. Without saying a word she put on her strongest game face, stood back with her hands still laying just on top of Gibbs shoulders, looked him in the eyes and nodded. Confirming to him that she was over her moment of weakness and leaving to go do her best & fastest work ever. Tony's life depended on it – and quite possibly Ziva's too.

Before leaving she looked over to see if Ziva was awake yet and noticed that Tim was keeping an eye on her while seated in a chair next to her bed. It didn't look as though Ziva was going to be waking up anytime soon so Abby turned on her heel and proceeded to leave the ward to find Ducky, she decided she would also wait to talk to Timmy since he was also looking too worn out for words – making her wonder just what kind of hell they had all experienced throughout this whole dangerous rescue operation.

She was surprised at the sense of relief that flooded her making her realize that she really wasn't to face her Israeli friend anyhow. Especially knowing how poorly she had been treating Tony ever since he started secretly investigating her connections with Michael Rivkin.

She couldn't help but wonder why Ziva, who always seemed almost as close to Tony as she herself was acting to angry towards him when if the table were turned, she would have done the exact same think to him! Taking a deep breath in an attempt to remain calm and not let herself get too worked up until she had all the facts.

_**Ziva's bedside . . . **_

Tim took in his teammate's appearance and noted the obvious signs of distress on her forehead, he wished he had some way of knowing whether they were caused by her physical pain – or from anguish over the entire revolting situation that seemed destined to spin out of control from the beginning.

He heard his bosses' footsteps arriving at the end of the bed, he too was taking in Ziva's appearance and still trying to wrap is own head around what they had all gone through over the past 6 to 7 months and were still unfortunately going through it.

"How's Tony doing?

"Down for the count again. Doc should be by any minute to get his damn hand taken care of, and I don't like the way his breathing sounds right now either so I'll get another update on the rest of his condition when the doctor gets here. Did ya talk to Ziva at all?"

"No boss, she was still asleep even then. I keep wondering what she must have gone through . . ." Tim started and then stopped, knowing Gibbs was feeling guilty enough since he was the one who ultimately made the fateful decision to leave her back in Israel. But his boss said nothing. A few long awkward moments passed in complete silence until the door swung open and their main physician came in followed by his usual shadow of nurses.

"Agent Gibbs, might I have a word with you in private for a moment?" the doctor asked him. The men walked over to the wall that was furthest from the rest of the group before the doctor started speaking again.

"My nurses are going to take Agent DiNozzo to get his hand checked out again and cast it if necessary. We also have him scheduled for more test on the rest of his condition such as blood gases and other labs, as well as repeating some of the previous scans to see if we can detect any deterioration or new problems from whatever was coursing through his system. I still fear we haven't seen the worst of the effects yet, that was a nasty combination of components without a doubt. But I'm afraid we have a new matter of equal urgency to deal with – and that is what I need to speak to you about."

Gibbs didn't comment on anything he had just heard, he just perked up a little at the last sentence and looked at the doctor with earnest.

"The hospital just received an anonymous threat over the phone this morning. We have every reason to believe it's from either the same group that you tackled with during your rescue mission, or it is another group that is affiliated with them in some capacity."

The muscles in Gibbs' face and jaw clenched tightly as he immediately grew concerns. "What did they say?"

"Well, somehow they definitely know that you and your team are being treated here, said the hospital would regret treating the NCIS team and that we better hope that we have been practicing our hospital evacuation drills. But - they also mentioned the name Saleem – they said they would avenge his death one way or another and that NCIS would pay – and that no one would get in their way. Then they did say they would contact us again and I think there was something said about demands that would come later and a chance for us to reduce the potential death toll."

The doctor waited for the lead NCIS agent to absorb the disturbing news before continuing, "You do know that I have to notify the authorities right away of course - but I wanted you to know first."

"Yes, yes I understand you need to protect your hospital and the other patients first and foremost Doctor. I appreciate the head's up but I will be damned if I will let any harm come to anyone else on our account. You don't by chance have a recording of that phone call do you?"

"Yes as a matter of fact they called into our emergency switchboard where by law we have to record all calls. I can get you a copy of that as soon as possible."

"Good thank you Doctor, really I do appreciate all you have done for us. I will notify the authorities on my end as well and I guarantee they will send a substantial amount of additional military security and reinforcements to help protect this hospital at all costs. Now if you can just get that tape to my Forensic Analyst Abby Scuito as soon as possible, then I will alert the rest of my team."

"Doctor, wait one more thing - are you sure you remember the entire message? Was there anything else they said such as a deadline? Anything? Usually in cases like this they do include that in the warning."

"Well, since I didn't hear the actual call I suppose there may have been more that was said that was not relayed to me. The switchboard operator who took the call was pretty shaken up about it. Listen, I can have that tape to Miss Scuito within the next ten minutes, it might be best if you listen to it again in case there is more that she didn't remember to relay."

_**Hospital Neuroscience Laboratory . .**_ .

Abby was working quickly, spurred on by a nervous energy caused by the presence of a very anxious Gibbs as he stood behind her not so patiently waiting for her to play the recorded phone conversation. The Hospital had delivered some audio equipment from their main conference room – she would not be able to analyze the call to the depths she normally would have – had she had access to her usual hi-tech audio analyzing equipment. That meant no determining voice patterns and deciphering background noise and such, but right now they would take what they could get.

She finally pressed play and they listened to the ominous message – the first part of the conversation was almost verbatim what the switch operator and the doctor had relayed, but then there was an added threat at the tail end of the call that left both Abby & Gibbs chilled and concerned.

". . _. and __**no one **__will get in our way! We will contact you again in 4 hours with our demands and if you comply, you may just save your hospital from suffering enough damage to result in a very high death toll! And __**tell NCIS**__ that __**there will be bloodshed**__ (the caller's voice rising in velocity) in return for the __**death**__ of Saleem Ulmann – and starting with Agent __**DiNozzo**__!" (click)." . . ._

**To Be Continued . . .**

_Well there it is! I really hope you like the added excitement and danger that is to come. I apologize again for how long this update took to get to you, I can only hope it was worth the wait. Please review and let me know your thoughts!__** Love you all.**_

_**Bnbfanatic**_


	14. Heavy Conversations

_**A/N – I had this chapter almost ready to post a week ago but then I started going back and changing stuff and adding to it, etc. I just hope I didn't miss any major errors by doing that! It takes twice as long to write a chapter when you keep re-writing it! I hope you like it. Story will progress faster in next chapter and get to more excitement!**_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**

As Abby finally pressed play and they all listened to the ominous message – the first part of the conversation was almost verbatim what the switch operator and the doctor had relayed, but then there was an added threat at the tail end of the call that left both Abby & Gibbs chilled and concerned.

". . _. and __**no one **__will get in our way! We will contact you again in 4 hours with our demands and if you comply, you may just save your hospital from suffering enough damage to result in a very high death toll! And __**tell NCIS**__ that __**there will be bloodshed**__ (the caller's voice rising in velocity) in return for the __**death**__ of Saleem Ulmann – and starting with Agent __**DiNozzo**__!" (click)." . . ._

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XIV**

_**Hospital Neuroscience Lab . . .**_

Abby and Gibbs remained silent for just about a full minute before Gibbs immediately looked at his watch and asked Abby what time the call was placed. Upon hearing that they had just over 3 and a half hours before the next call he knew he needed to call in some military reinforcements. But his intent on calling them was not for the reasons Abby had assumed, he wasn't contacting them to essentially come and take over the hospital for protection, he only needed to get a few extra guards to post outside the Isolation Ward and since he didn't have access to the necessary equipment to place a bug and a trace at the main switchboard of the Hospital, he would have to contact Vance – alert him to the situation and since they don't negotiate with terrorists he knew he was going to have to be creative and cautious in his efforts to beat them at their own game.

Once he found out what their demands were, though he couldn't imagine anything that they would go to all of this trouble to obtain – then he would be able to figure out how to proceed. What could they possibly want and why would DiNozzo be the first promised victim when he was already facing the latest fight for his life? These were just some of the thoughts that were roaming through Gibbs tired mind. But he'd be damned if they were going to bring any more harm to his team – or to this hospital!

_**Hallway Outside The Isolation Ward (approx 45 minutes later) . . .**_

As Gibbs made his way back down the hallway heading towards Isolation, he was still grumbling about the itchy mask they had forced him to keep on whilst outside the ward. It gave him great pleasure to remove the source of his irritation the very second he arrived at the doors heading into isolation.

He was more grateful than ever that the doctors had determined it was now safe for them to forego the masks while_ inside_ the Isolation ward since they had already been exposed to Tony during the rescue. They knew that if anyone else was inflicted with whatever Tony had – if it was even_ infectious_ - they would already have shown symptoms by now.

Gibbs looked over at Tony's bed only to find it empty – he then glanced towards the direction of Ziva's bed where he quickly spotted McGee sitting beside it visiting with an alert but very pale looking Ziva.

"**McGee – sit rep!"** It was all he needed to say and his team always knew what in particular he wanted to know about at the time. Tim instantly jumped up on his feet before responding.

"Uhm yes boss! Tony was finally taken for X-rays of his hand and arm and I assume since he's been gone for about 40 minutes that he's getting some kind of cast put on or something. Ziva woke up about 20 minutes ago and is still not feeling all that great." He reported, nervously trying to ignore the evil daggers that Ziva was shooting him with her glare.

"Okay, that's a good job McGee. Ziva? How are you doing? And before you lay that same 'I'm fine' crap that Tony's in the habit of – I would think twice about that decision." He growled, getting more cranky by the hour.

" I am recovering, it's just taking me longer to regain my strength and stop feeling like the room is spinning than I had anticipated."

The emotionless and almost clinical response she had just given him caught Gibbs a little off guard. He was used to her being straight up so that wasn't what bothered him. It was the fact that there seemed to be no light left in her eyes whatsoever. What kind of hell had she been through – he thought sadly, suddenly feeling very paternal in his concern for his former Mossad team member.

Glancing towards Tim when Ziva's eyes had closed for a minute, Gibbs made eye contact with McGee and wordlessly nodded his head in the direction of the other side of the room where Tim's bed was located. McGee knew instantly what that meant having worked for the man for so many years. He knew that meant his boss wanted to speak to Ziva – alone. Once McGee was resting comfortably on his own bed, Gibbs thought of what a nice job his junior agent had been doing as far as keeping up morale and offering support to the members of his team who were not feeling in top form. He made a mental note to commend Tim for that, then he turned back to Ziva and found her eyes were open again as she watched him cautiously.

"Ziva, look – I want you to just listen to me for a minute okay? No interruptions, no eye rolling, nothing. Clear?"

"Yes Gibbs, very clear." came her weakened reply.

"This is something we have to talk about sooner or later and now's as good a time as any. Back in Tel-Aviv - I know things were not ideal when we parted ways and I also know you weren't expecting me to make the decision that I did. But I have to tell you, you should know that . . . your Father had more to do with my decision than anything else."

Ziva's head quickly turned towards him in surprise, astounded by his revelation though she remained silent - knowing he would explain. Gibbs was sure that deep down in her heart she already knew what he was going to say next.

"I could tell by the way he was watching you on that tarmac that he fully expected you to stay. Don't ask me how I knew that, I guess it was just one of those gut feelings I have now and then." He grinned at her trying to ease her mind while he attempted to mend the all but shattered fence.

"So I also have to assume that he is also behind your asking me to choose between you and DiNozzo. I think he was so angry over how easily a sarcastic man like Tony had so cleverly turned the tables on him during what was_ supposed_ to be Tony's interrogation - that he wanted to take one more stab at trying to get back at him for that, knowing that I would not shake up my team any further by transferring Tony to another team, but also knowing that DiNozzo would be devastated and guilt ridden upon finding out that you stayed behind."

Ziva broke eye contact, staring down at her blankets and knowing that he was right. Her Father had been the one who convinced her to give Gibbs the untimely ultimatum only days before he betrayed her by sending her on what was basically a suicide mission. She knew that he was fully aware of her capture and it sickened her to her core to know that he had the means and the power to rescue her – and simply chose not to. But what bothered her even more, what silently ate at her mind like an acid – was the fact that Tony – the man she had betrayed, insulted, injured and lied to, the man who always had her back in every situation without question and without concern for his own safety, had once again risked everything to come and rescue her, saving her from a long and torturous existence and eventual death – which now may result in him paying the ultimate price for his selfless act of chivalry – enduring his own torturous death.

Tears welled up in her eyes before she could control herself. She had changed so much during her months of captivity and despair – she felt so weak emotionally _and _physically knowing that she used to have _more_ control over her emotions than even most _**men**_ had.

She was suddenly brought back to the here and now when she felt a feather light touch on her cheek. Letting her eyes move up from staring at the blankets she realized that Gibbs had reached over to wipe off some of the tears that had started rolling unchecked down her face. '_Dammit!_ ' she thought as she berated herself silently when the reality of what she was doing hit her. Dammit what was she doing? She was crying in front of Gibbs for petesake!'

"Gibbs, I don't know that I feel up to this conversation right now." she cowered. "I -" but her words were cut short.

"Listen Ziva, I know it's not an ideal time but it's as good as any and if we want to start putting this all behind us and focusing on making better choices in the future . . . _ALL_ of us – then we need to get this out of the way. We need to finish this conversation before they bring Tony back in here."

Her response this time was just a nod of her head as she let him continue, knowing that he would have anyway.

"Now, there are some other things that you need to know about, it's regarding some of the details surrounding the mission to rescue you from Somalia. Now as much as I know you won't want to hear this and as much as I wish I could be the one to take credit for the mission, especially being successful given the seemingly impossible feat it was from the start, I can't because credit should be given where credit is deserved. " he paused, taking a breath before continuing.

"Ziva - **one hundred percent** of that credit – credit for this _entire _risky mission, goes to Tony - and only Tony."

Gibbs paused only for a second to let his words sink into her tired mind, seeing her eyebrows rise up slightly and her face soften but somehow manage to look stressed by his announcement at the same time.

"I mean it Ziva, you know I don't hand out praise freely, but in this case DiNozzo deserves more than my rare praise – he deserves a commendation for the success of what could have essentially been just a suicide mission. He did an outstanding job from proposing his initial idea and setting the operation in motion, to bringing it to the successful conclusion. "

"Hell, when we first heard the news that the Damocles went down we had no reason to believe you survived or that we could even begin to seek out those responsible. We had absolutely no information to go on as far as who was responsible or even where to begin to _look_ for the terrorist camp.

But Tony . . . Ziva – _HE_ did."

"Gibbs . . . I –" she finally started to interject, tears now falling freely down her face knowing that her initial suspicions had just been confirmed by the man she looked up to more than her own Father.

"Hold on, I'm almost finished and then you can say your peace." He reached over and handed her a box of tissues that were on a table next to her bed. " I know you are not used to this many consecutive words coming out of my mouth but this needs to be said and Ziva you _**need**_ to know how strongly Tony felt that your death should be avenged. You need to know how relentless he was in his pursuit. In fact, he stood up to me like never before when he fought for NCIS to allow this mission, he was fighting . . . for _you_.

Before I knew it he had convinced me as well as Vance and then he threw himself into formulating a solid game plan with a passion and determination I have never seen before. Had it not been for him Ziva, I guarantee that we would not be here right now, with you – alive."

Gibbs sat back further into his chair, '_Damn I need a gallon of coffee after that speech_!' he thought to himself. Now he knew why he hated talking – it was exhausting!

"I . . . I don't know what to say Gibbs. I know that I should be grateful and . . . I am. It's just that . . . well - too much has happened . . . too much for me to absorb all at once. " She replied in short staggered sentences. She then closed her eyes and let her head fall back deeper into the pillows. She felt even weaker, more wiped out than she had felt before.

"Gibbs, would you please leave me alone right now? I just need . . . a little time to myself." She pleaded.

Gibbs then noticed how she suddenly looked paler than before and even a little green around the gills, and suddenly a realization hit him like a slap across the face. He had completely forgotten the extent of what she had been forced to endure, he had forgotten about the rape, which had most likely been a crime that was repeatedly inflicted upon her. Now he felt like an absolute ass!

What right did he have to pile even more heavy news on her already crumbling state of mind, he had only wanted to talk to her about their awkward parting in Tel-Aviv so they could put it behind them and heal – but in hindsight he could have waited to tell her that Tony had been the one to thank for saving her life since now she would have the additional guilt of knowing_ that_, eating away at her as well. It was too much – but it was too late. The damage was done.

But then he realized that on the brighter side - all the cards were now laid out on the table so to speak. There were no more secrets threatening to pull apart his reunited team.

After a couple of minutes of silence Gibbs stood up from his chair, gently squeezing Ziva's forearm hoping to pass on some of his own strength and to reassure her that she had his support, "Okay David, get some rest - that's an order!" he teased, trying terribly to lighten up the conversation before leaving her to rest.

But before he turned around to leave her to it, Ziva watched in surprise as he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her forehead. But before he left he wanted to say something to give her some kind of hope to hang onto while she rode through her despair. "You do have family here Ziva whether you aree ready to admit that now or not. When you _are _ready to let us be there for you, you have my word that we will. Now please just do one thing for me - just try not to don't beat yourself up over any of this anymore. Let it end here and try to focus on a new beginning with people who honestly care about you with no hidden agendas - okay?"

He swore he saw a ghost of a smile right before he turned to leave, hoping to see if he could get some coffee brought in.

He walked towards the other end of the Isolation Ward where McGee was quietly lying on his bed, Gibbs planned on just pressing the call button for the Nurse in order to ask for coffee. He smiled mischievously knowing that they would reprimand him and point out that this button is designed to be used for some kind of '_room service'. _But it wasn't like they would be any happier if he kept leaving Isolation when even with a mask he could be putting people at risk, just for a damn cup of java.

"McGee." He said quietly, not sure if the junior agent was sleeping.

Tim shot upright from the bed upon hearing his bosses' voice. "ON-IT-BOSS?" he blurted out as a reflex.

"Relax Tim! I didn't mean to startle you. How are you feeling - any new symptoms?"

McGee just shook his head in response and then quickly asked the question he had been waiting to ask since Gibbs first returned from the lab where he heard the terrorist's phone call. "So uh, boss – what did you find out about that phone call? Is there something I can do to help? I'm getting really bored here so I would like to do something." McGee explained.

" Well, not much we can do yet but I appreciate your eagerness. I will need your help since we have some calls that need to be placed to call in some reinforcements. I am sure we will get more details as to why they are eager to come after us now – that's not typically their style once a cell is discovered and aborted. Especially , why they would mention Tony as their primary focus."

"Well – I'm sure we have a list by now of everyone tied to Saleem's group. If I can get access to a laptop I can start going through that and just see if anything or anyone looks familiar. Maybe Saleem had some family members working for him, that's been a common theme among other terrorist cells we've infiltrated." Tim suggested.

"That's some good thinking McGee. Actually, seeing as you and Tony had brought your laptops along for the trip so you could access all of the plans for the mission, I just have to contact the Supervisor of the military station that we used as our base of operations. You know, prior to you two nitwits leaving to drive around all over dodge in a Hummer just to _purposely _become captured!" Gibbs stated sarcastically since that part of Tony's plan that he had the most trouble agreeing to at the time.

Finally caving in only because he knew there was no other way. If Ducky hadn't stitched tiny tracking devices - courtesy of Abby - into the skin of the underside of their arms to assure access to their location at all times – and if Gibbs personally hadn't been stationed with a sniper rifle which would help him protect his team as needed, and an eagle eye view of the camp where they knew the two unconscious agents had been taken – then he would have forced them to abort the entire mission.

But knowing they had taken every possible precaution they could take, he felt a _little_ more at ease about the still dangerous mission.

The two men were interrupted when the main doors at the far end of the room swung open. They watched as the orderlies wheeled a now unconscious DiNozzo back into the room on his own hospital bed. The beds were made to be portable so that patients did not have to be unnecessarily lifted or moved back and forth onto gurneys just to go have some tests run, they could make out what looked like a brace covering Tony's hand and arm up to the elbow. Their attention was brought back to the entrance once again as this time the primary Doctor entered, holding a set of X-rays in his hands.

While the orderlies worked on getting the patient settled again, the Doctor looked up and spotted the two healthy NCIS agents heading towards him, waving at them to follow him he headed towards a couple of X-ray view boxes that would allow him to show them what was discovered on the films of Tony's arm and hand. Sliding the films up until they held firm, he flipped the switch causing the light to shine through, illuminating the board and making every detail of the X-rays to become clearly defined.

Once he felt the presence of the agents behind him he started going over the films without turning around. Taking a pen out to use as a pointer he tapped a few sections, mainly on the picture of Tony's hand and once on the picture of his wrist and forearm.

"You can seem some small fractures on Agent DiNozzo's hand, one here . . . and another here and here." He directed their attention to what looked like miniscule fissures that stood out amongst the rest of the bones that all looked solid and smooth. "There are a lot of small bones in the hand so fractures of this nature are that uncommon especially after someone has been involved in a fist fight or in Agent's DiNozzo's case - punching inanimate objects."

Gibbs and McGee both tensed at the stressful memory, knowing that Tony had been driven to the act as a result of misplaced anger – a desperate attempt to release his overwhelming fury, a fury he wished to take out on those responsible for putting Ziva through something that no woman should ever experience. But having no way to go after men because they were either already dead, or sitting in holding cells waiting to go to prison – he had simply taken it out on everything in his immediate path.

The doctor continued. ". . . aside from the fractures there are also a couple of clean breaks that you can see here." He pointed to an area of the hand just below the knuckles - ". . . and here." as he moved the pointer over to the X-ray of Tony's forearm and pointing to an obvious break on his wrist. Turning back around to face Gibbs and McGee, the doctor clicked his pen and slid it into a pocket on his doctor's coat just below his name tag.

"Thankfully it wasn't as serious as it could have been. There was no damage that required surgical repair so he is lucky in that regard. Given the fact that he had numerous scrapes on his hand from where he broke through the wall, including a couple of minor cuts that required stitches, I chose to use a splint for now rather than a plaster cast which is what I would have preferred. Reason being that a plaster cast would have been an invitation for moisture and infection to wreak havoc on those cuts and I want to be able to gain access to remove the stitches in a week. Do you gentlemen have any questions?"

Gibbs did. "Thank you Doctor, I appreciate the update and I'm glad to hear that he didn't do too much damage. But overall, how is his condition otherwise? It looks to me like he's down for the count and I can't imagine having X-rays taken was anything tiring."

"Yes, well that's another story entirely Agent Gibbs. I had to put him under heavy sedation because he started shivering uncontrollably, most likely due to his fever rising again. There was no way my nurse was not going to be able to put those stitches in with him shaking like he was. I'm afraid his conditioning is starting to progress and worsen."

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Gosh I really hope this chapter is up to your satisfaction! Pls review and let me know. **__**THANK YOU!**_


	15. Survivor's Guilt

**A/N: **I realized that I had been neglecting Tim somewhat so I rectified that in this chapter – and I needed this chapter to help set up the call and the next stages of the story. I hope you like it none the less! I also noticed that I haven't provided much background on any of the docs so I will rectify that in this chapter. Reminder: Dr. Keenan was the name of the Chief Medic from the local military base and he's been the one who was in most of the previous chapters. He told Gibbs in a previous chapter that the hospital physician had been in surgery and would be assisting Keenan with the team's care. **ENJOY**

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

"_Thank you Doctor, I appreciate the update and I'm glad to hear that he didn't do too much damage. But overall, how is his condition otherwise? It looks to me like he's down for the count and I can't imagine having X-rays taken was that tiring." - _"_Yes, well that's another story entirely I'm afraid Agent Gibbs. I had to put him under heavy sedation because he started shivering uncontrollably, most likely due to his fever rising again. There was no way my nurse was going to be able to put those stitches in with him shaking like he was. _

_I'm afraid his condition is starting to progress and worsen."_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XV**

_**Isolation Ward – Near Tony's Bed . . .**_

"Dr. Nokur, correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me that his fever keeps fluctuating. He seemed pretty feverish when we first arrived but then for a little while it didn't seem to be very bothersome at all. What's going on?"

Doctor Khalim Nokur (no-koor) was a physician at the hospital and known to be one of the best they had on staff. He was scheduled to be the team's physician along with Dr. Keenan. Although Keenan was the chief medic at the local Marine base, his credentials include working on staff at the hospital part time. The two peers found themselves working together on cases quite often but their combined expertise were unmatched.

"I'm very impressed, that is a very good observation Agent Gibbs, and you are right – I studied all of your charts for almost an hour before taking over so Dr. Keenan could get some long overdue sleep and I did see in his chart notes that his temperature has indeed been all over the place. I can't give you any concrete reason as to why though just yet because until we learn more about we are dealing with here and what that terrorist did to him – or injected him with rather – I am just as in the dark right now as you all are I'm afraid. What I CAN do though, is make sure your agent is as comfortable as possible by treating each of his symptoms as they appear, for example when his fever _does_ spike as it's doing right now, we'll do what we do best and get it back down."

Gibbs took in a deep breath, running his left hand over his tired face from his chin to the top of his head as if trying to bring more alertness and circulation to his face, then his hand continued on it's path pushing his short hair back until he finally dropped his hand and his hair fell right back into place. Then he reached out with his right hand to shake the doctor's hand he thanked him.

"Thank you Doctor. So just how do you reduce a fever that is as high as his appears to be?" looking towards Tony he was unnerved by the very flushed and sweating face of his otherwise peaceful looking SFA.

"Well, I have already ordered some ice down procedures and my staff should be along any minute to proceed with my orders. Right now the most important thing is that get his fever down or if anything at least keep it from going any higher. At last check his temperature was holding steady at barely under 104 but if it's allowed to go any higher he is going to start experiencing fever convulsions and I would like to avoid that at all costs."

Almost before he had finished his answer the room was suddenly filled with three more nurses as they pushed in a wheeled cart carrying various blue and white items. The physician directed Gibbs and McGee to step back from the area around Tony's bed so that the nurses could do their job and so he could explain to the men just what they were doing.

"As you can see they are starting to place small ice packs in various places on his body that are proven to be most effective such as underneath the armpits, behind the neck, some under the knees and a couple near the groin area. Then he will be covered with a thin blue cooling blanket but we can only apply these for up to 20 minutes at a time and then we have to remove them. If needed we will re-apply in a half an hour or perhaps consider giving him an ice bath."

Tim had been silent the entire time, staring first at Tony's flushed face, then his hair that was held up in messy spikes from the sweat that coated it. Then he watched as the nurses quickly place the much needed ice packs in each position. Man Tony would either be in heaven having the hands of 3 pretty nurses pretty much all over him – or he would be mortified since even though he acted all suave and overly confident – Tim knew that even the overly confident Tony got flustered and nervous almost as badly as he did if the female or females were coming on too strong or showing him too much adoration.

He smiled at the thought, he knew his partner much better than anyone even realized. His smile disappeared just as quickly as he looked at how still and quiet his partner was. _'He __**has**__ to be okay!' _Tim thought, _'He just has to.'_

Then all of a sudden he started to fully absorb what was happening and couldn't help but think about how quickly their mission had gone from a joyous success story, to Tony getting more ill by the minute, and Ziva - not faring much better for reasons yet to be explained. He instantly began to feel almost guilty for his own good health.

_'Jeez'_ he thought, "_How is it that I came away with nothing more than some cuts and bruises, sore ribs and slight concussion?" _he pondered, thinking back to the worst part of the nightmare rescue . . .

_**~ Flashback~**_

He and Tony had been pummeled and knocked out by the heavy rifles of several of Saleem's men and by the time McGee had come around again his stomach sank as he spotted Tony out of the corner of his half closed eyes. His partner was already strapped to a chair and on the receiving end of far too many punches as Saleem landed blow after blow to Tony's face, head and torso simply because he wouldn't answer any of the terrorist's questions.

Tim was proud of himself that he had been wise enough to play possum knowing Tony could handle Saleem and that at least one of them would need to remain somewhat healthy if they were going to walk out of there once Gibbs did the planned deed and shot the bastard!

First they had to get him to either admit that he had been the one to murder Ziva – or Tony had to get him to tell him where she was. But what they hadn't anticipated was the truth serum that could have ruined everything if Tony had accidentally admitted certain details of their plan before Gibbs was in place and ready to take the fatal shot. Tony had purposely egged Saleem on at first in an effort to stall and give his boss time to get into position following their planned capture.

Doing what he did best by continuing to be a sarcastic smart ass until Saleem finally lost his patience and started to punch Tony repeatedly once again – this time targeting his face and ribcage only.

**"McGee!"**

He was instantly shocked back to the present moment when he heard the abrasive sound of his bosses' slightly elevated voice right next to his ear. Gibbs had asked McGee if he was okay after noticing the way the younger agent was staring wide eyed at his very sick partner and looking paler by the minute himself.

"Yeah, sorry boss. I'm okay . . . really." McGee finally responded though Gibbs noticed that the words coming out of his agent's mouth seemed to completely contradict what his body language and facial expression were saying.

"Yeah? You sure about that Tim? You still look a little shell shocked - as much as you try to hide it." Gibbs continued prodding.

"Come on, let's get you into this chair son." The doctor suggested as he led McGee by the elbow and brought him over to a nearby chair, still not far from Tony's bed. "I have to agree with your boss here, you face is as white as a ghost." He then picked up McGee's wrist and while timing the beats on his own watch he checked his pulse just to be safe.

"No really, look I'm fine I promise. You need to keep taking care of Tony and Ziva, they are the ones who are _**really**_ sick – I shouldn't be taking you away from that when there's nothing wrong with me, I am **fine**!"

By now Tim was getting downright irritated by the unwanted attention, his guilt soaring to new heights as he unwillingly pulled the doctor away from someone who truly needed his attention – Tony. Gibbs was pretty good at figuring out what each member of his team was thinking – something he had just learned over the many years he had been working with his talented yet dysfunctional group. He had had also recognized the look in McGee's eyes, he had seen it many times during his stint in the war as a Marine. It was delayed shock which usually happened just after a very risky or volatile mission after all adrenaline had been exhausted and the persons involved in the mission – the one's who were NOT injured as badly but whom had been extremely valuable in helping to get the seriously injured men to a safe zone. It was also known as 'survivor's guilt' and Tim was exhibiting many of the warning signs.

Gibbs was about to speak when the physician beat him to it.

"Look son, I know you think you are fine and yes, in comparison to your teammates I suppose you are – but for now you are still a patient of mine until you are released from this hospital so while you are technically still under my care and therefore **my** responsibility – you will do just as I say and stop worrying so much about taking me away from your friends. As you can see Agent DiNozzo is being taken care of just fine by my very capable staff and Miss David will be tended to next. You however, are my focus at the moment so you _**will **_listen to everything I say – okay?"

Tim started to object one more time but after seeing Gibbs out of the corner of his eye, taking one step closer to him, he knew it was an obvious warning that he best agree with the doctor or he would answer to him.

"Yeah doc - whatever you say." he said sounding a bit dejected.

"Now, even though Doctor Keenan and I haven't been obvious about it, we have been keeping an eye on you Agent McGee, hell _**both **_of you gentlemen for that matter." he said nodding his head in Gibbs' direction to reference him as well. "In fact just as much as we've been watching the other two and I know that both of you have neglected to get anywhere near the proper amount of rest after what I heard was a grueling and exhausting mission to say the least - and I don't just mean physically exhausting by the way. You cannot continue to go at this same pace! Everyone, and I don't care _**who**_ you are (another glance towards Gibbs), needs to have appropriate downtime after coming off a serious and risky mission - and by downtime I mean; emotionally, physically _and _mentally.

Right now Agent McGee you are exhibiting several of the symptoms related to post traumatic shock which is also sometimes referred to as 'delayed shock' in less serious cases. I know that seems crazy to you since you feel like you escaped with relatively minor injuries and so on – but trust me, I work with many, many military troops and other special operatives whom have just come off of a dangerous mission where lives were lost and injuries received. But we find many cases where the operative who appear to have the least amount of physical injuries, can be just as unstable and unhealthy as their injured counterparts in other ways. Mainly because they had to buck up and take on even more worry, pressure and danger just to get the injured operatives out safely along with you. The adrenaline spike in the non-injured parties has been found to be much higher and sometimes more damaging because they had to take on the added stress of saving the lives of their own injured teammates.

There's something called 'survior's guilt' that can also leave one feeling depressed and anxious and even though there were no fatalities on your team per say, just having teammates with serious injuries can make those that were not injured as badly feel guilty when they should just be grateful that they were well enough to get the others out of there. Does all of this make sense to you gentlemen? I apologize for the lengthy explanation."

McGee just nodded knowing that Gibbs would reply.

"No apologies please Doctor, I appreciate your observation and I agree with you. I have been in this situation before myself and you explained it well. However I am going to need you to work with me on this one because Tim's all I got as far as helping with this new threat to the hospital plus helping Abby if needed in the lab. So how about he gets some rest and does whatever you want him to do at least for a couple of hours or so - then I promise I will make sure he rests periodically after that."

The doctor thought about the offering Gibbs made, he had forgotten about the threat to the hospital. "Okay, here's what I will agree to – I will allow Agent McGee to do work from his laptop WHILE he is in bed getting replenished with one IV of fluids, electrolytes and other minerals. He will take short naps sleep when he feels tired and once this new crisis is averted I will restrain _**both **_of you to your beds if I have to, where you will sleep for at least 6 hours straight."

Upon getting Gibbs' word that they would abide by those strict rules, the two men shook hands for a second time that day and within ten minutes McGee was back in his own bed, one of Tony's three nurses had come over to start him on his own IV. Gibbs was forced back to his own bed as well but talked his way out of an IV, and somehow into a large cup of steaming hot coffee. The Doctor reassured him that he would have someone retrieve laptops immediately along with anything else Abby had for them to work on.

Gibbs glanced over at the clock on the wall, he had just 1 hour and forty three minutes until the next call was set to come in- but this time he would be ready. He was determined to pull as much information out of the caller as he could get in hopes of determining if McGee's theory that the calls were stemming from one or more members of Saleem's vengeful family had been correct. He had contacted Vance after listening to the first recorded call with Abby. Vance had assured him that he would get him some additional help from the nearest Marine base – not enough to alert any of the patients or visitors within the hospital – just a few to help guard Gibbs and team and assist in anything else Gibbs needed outside help with.

Gibbs sat on his bed drinking up the last of his coffee while observing his team especially Tony whom he thought looked more like a DiNozzo Popsicle with all of the ice packs he had covering him. He smiled at the thought realizing that was something his comedic Senior Agent would call himself if he were awake. But his mind just kept going back to one specific thing, there was one question that just kept nagging at both his mind _and_ his gut – 'if the threats _were_ coming from anyone related or close enough to Saleem to want to extract revenge, then just how did they even find out specific details as to what went down? How would they know enough to actually name Tony as their first intended victim?'

Gibbs knew that the military troop that raided the camp along with him when they rescued his team, had rounded up every member of the terrorist cell that were still onsite at the camp. No one would have been able to escape. The only thing he could think of was that somehow Saleem had contacted someone whilst away from the room where he had been interrogating Tony, so he would have been out of earshot of the hidden wire they had sewn into Tony's clothing. Or, a worse yet – Gibbs knew that he also had to consider the possibility that someone within the US Military troop assisting in the op – was leaking insider Intel directly to the terrorist cell. He hoped that wasn't the case because if there was one thing that he couldn't stomach, it was someone betraying their Country _and_ their comrade's in that manner. This was one answer he was determined to get one way or another. He would find out who was responsible for the leak of information whether it be from inside Saleem's camp – or an outside source.

His intense thoughts were disrupted when an orderly appeared at the end of his bed. Gibbs sized him up, he was clean cut and looked to be of middle Eastern decent, he seemed barely old enough to be working and Gibbs could tell even under the boy's protective mask that he was nervous as he shifted uncomfortably under the intense scrutiny he was getting from the man with the silver hair and exaggerated blue eyes.

Finally Gibbs caught sight of what the orderly was holding – he had two laptops. He had been instructed to give them to the most 'senior' patient so he took no time in spotting the older of the four patients.

"I was instructed to bring these to you right away Sir." He explained.

"Good, thank you. Just set them here on my bed until I wake my agent. How old are you if you don't mind my asking?"

"No Sir – uhm I mean it's fine Sir. I am seventeen sir, almost eighteen . . . Sir."

Gibbs hid the cringe he felt each time the boy called him by the name he disliked intensely – "Look, please just call me Gibbs okay? Call me anything but just stop with the 'Sir's'." he said with a smile. He always had a soft spot for teens and children.

"Okay Si- . . . Mr. Gibbs" with that the young man practically fled the room either from simple intimidation or simply fear of contracting whatever contagious ailment they were quarantined for.

As Gibbs started to get one laptop set up, he looked across at Tim's bed and seeing how tired he looked even asleep, he decided to give him ten more minutes. Then roaming his eyes across the room he saw Ziva, still sleeping but now being tended to by the Doctor and finally he scanned the bed across the room from her to check on Tony and was relieved to see the nurses had already started to remove all of the ice packs after having already removed the cooling blanket that had been placed over him. He breathed even easier after noticing that flushed redness that had invaded Tony's cheeks when his fever first spiked, had diminished to a light pink but otherwise still too pale skin tone – a sure sign his fever had finally broke. . . for now.

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_**THANK YOU ALL for the great reviews**__, I hadn't had time to reply to each of you one by one but I will try to do that when I can! I am glad many of you like that I add the __**"Previously on. . ."**_ _section. I do __that because when I read other fan fics that take a long time between updates (like mine) - then I forget what's going on in the story. This way you don't have that problem. Please review. _


	16. The Reality Of A Nightmare

_**A/N – A**lert to all you Non-Tiva fans: I don't want you to think based on the latter part in this chapter – that this will become a **full out **Tiva story even though I am Pro-Tiva myself. But since the TorC episode made Tony's feelings for Ziva rather clear – I do plan to stick as close to the episode as possible. Please let me know what you think of this chapter, I shifted my course for a minute because I just **had **to write this scene. One last thing –some of you may think Gibbs is more talkative in this scene than he is on the show but I disagree. There have been lots of epi's over the years where he's talking to his Dad, Ducky, Vance - or one of his team when they are struggling w/ something. _

_As always **I will proof read this again** in the morning – rt now I just want to post it and go to bed. Haha ~ Enjoy!_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

_As Gibbs started to get one laptop set up, he looked across at Tim's bed and seeing how tired he looked even asleep, he decided to give him ten more minutes. Then roaming his eyes across the room he saw Ziva, still sleeping but now being tended to by the Doctor and finally he scanned the bed across the room from her to check on Tony and was relieved to see the nurses had already started to remove all of the ice packs after having already removed the cooling blanket that had been placed over him. _

_He breathed even easier after noticing that flushed redness that had invaded Tony's cheeks when his fever first spiked, had diminished to a light pink but otherwise still too pale skin tone – a sure sign his fever had finally broke. . . for now._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XVI**

_**Isolation Ward . . .**_

Deep in the REM stage of slumber McGee had no idea that his boss was about to wake him from his fitful sleep - but if he had, he might have wished that his boss had awakened him even sooner since he was smack dab in the middle of the worst part of the worst nightmare he could ever recall having . . .

_[. . . It was back in the middle of the terrorist camp, he once again laying on the dirt covered floor in the small room where he and Tony were held for quite some time. The first thing he saw as the nightmare began to unfold, was Tony and Ziva - still tied to their chairs and facing each other just as they had been during the real life nightmare. But beyond that, nothing else was the same as Tim had no choice but to endure the rest of the bad dream as it continued to play out._

_He watched in shocked horror as Saleem quickly slit Ziva across her slender throat using the long knife he had been threatening them with. He found himself unable to look away as her life force sprayed out, splattering across the left side of Tony's face. Tim tried to move - tried to get up in order to help save his friends – but just like many nightmares, he found he was frozen in place and unable to move, unable to stop Saleem as the cold blooded terrorist pulled out his gun and without a second to spare he proceeded to shoot the grieving senior agent point blank through his already broken heart. Tim felt like his own heart had been ripped out and stomped on when he watched his best friend's lifeless head drop down to his chest as his last breath came out unchecked. _

_He knew immediately when Saleem turned his sinister stare in his direction, that if he didn't find a way to move and move fast, then he too would suffer the same fate . . . he too would be as good as dead!_

But what Tim didn't know, was that as hard as it was for him to move his body within the realms of his dream, in the real world that wasn't an issue. In fact quite the opposite was true as his subconscious fight to stop the murderous villain, transposed physically beyond his dream and into the real world causing his arms to flail erratically and his legs to move from underneath the blankets. McGee was completely oblivious to what his physical body was doing since mentally his focus was still too caught up in the dream, not even allowing him to wake up when one of his out of control fists managed to clip his boss in the side of his face.

Gibbs had gone over to wake his exhausted agent when to his complete surprise he was smacked in the face! Hit with enough force to leave a serious mark when the younger man suddenly started swinging his arms out of nowhere at the very second his boss arrived next to his bed.

With reflexes like a cat Gibbs grabbed both of McGee's hands and pushed them down onto his chest, holding them there while he attempted to wake his struggling agent up.

"Dammit McGee!" Gibbs cussed as he felt the jarring pain of Tim's fist in his eye, "McGee wake up! That's an order!"

It was obvious that he had interrupted one hell of a nightmare, but one that McGee would be more than happy to come out of.

As soon as McGee's mind had finally freed him from the nightmare and thankfully _before_ Saleem had been able to kill him, he was still groggy and out of it as he realized he was fighting against whatever or whomever was holding his arms down against his chest. Finally his eyes flashed open wide as he saw his bosses' face glaring at him from above.

"McGee it's just me. Calm down you were just having some kind of nightmare."

McGee stilled his movements and immediately stopped fighting against his bosses strong hold. Gibbs let him go as soon as he was sure Tim was awake and aware. "You alright McGee?" he asked his agent, concerned about the bad dreams since he too had been experienced enough of his own nightmares over the years to know how real they could seem, and knowing they were most frequent right after a tough case - just like the mission they had just come off of.

"Ye- . . . yeah boss. I'm . . . I'm good." Tim replied, still shaking off the remnants of the deep sleep he had just been awoken from. "Boss, what happened to your face . . . your eye? It's not looking so good."

"Yeah well McGee, getting hit with a flying fist'll do that to ya. Listen it's fine, now come on, we have work to do and not much time to do it. I have some laptops for us and some other things – we need to listen to the tapes of the phone threat since we have another one coming here in short order and I'd like to be ready."

Finally it dawned on the now fully awake and alert agent as he realized he must have clipped his boss in the eye when he came over to wake him up. "Oh my God boss, I did that didn't I? Oh gosh I'm so sorr- uh . . . I mean I . . . I was just so caught up in that dream I was having – it just seemed sooo . . . real!" He had caught himself before saying the word his boss hated, but trying to apologize without it made it difficult to pull off.

"Tim. Look I said it's fine and I meant it. The first bad nightmare after a tough case is usually the worst."

McGee was flabbergasted when his boss called him by his first name. He remembered Tony saying after Kate died that Gibbs only did that when he was really shaken up or worried about a team member. He also felt honored that his boss was actually sharing a little something about himself, admitting that he had obviously had many nightmares of his own now and then – something that he found surprising since they all looked up to Gibbs like he was some kind of robotic Superhero who never had a moment of weakness even in sleep. He finally responded.

"Yeah, it was a bad one. Our mission didn't have such a positive ending in my dream, Saleem killed Ziva and Tony before we could escape so . . . it was just too realistic and it could very well have happened that way. We came close boss – too close this time." He opened up more than he had planned but he had been unable to stop himself for some reason.

"Yeah Tim – that we did." Gibbs just agreed, looking down slightly and nodding his head as he spoke. "But we're all fine now and even with Ziva and Tony still facing a few – challenges, we'll be alright and that's all you need to focus on. Now let's get started."

"Okay but boss at least let me get an ice pack brought in for your eye."

"No, there's no time. If it'll make you feel any better, I'll do that after we finish here. Now first McGee I need you to listen to the tape of the phone threat. I need to know if you recognize the voice. I know you saw an heard at least 2 other men because I saw through my scope as they came into the room you and Tony were being held in. "

"Yeah boss I did. They came in a couple of times to give Saleem a progress report on their search for other NCIS agents or operatives in the vicinity. I . . . I might be able to recognize someone but I don't know if I can recall any names.

"Tell me what happened in there McGee. Seeing what's happening is not the same as hearing it too." What Gibbs didn't share with Tim was that he had another reason for asking him about what had happened. He knew from experience that it would help stop the younger man's nightmares if he shared what happened with someone - in order to get it off his mind.

"Well, Saleem was getting angrier with each negative report and he would take it out on . . . well he . . ."

"Just say it McGee." Gibbs ordered, having some idea what his most junior agent - who still had a lot to learn before he could be considered a top field agent like his partner - was about to say.

"He . . . he t-took it out on Tony boss. He just – kept – hitting him! He wasn't even asking him anymore if anyone else had come with us! It took all I could do not to jump up and stop him!"

"No, you did good Tim. You knew that if you did that, it would have blown the whole operation and we may never have found Ziva. Just go on."

Tim nodded solemnly before continuing, "Tony stayed quiet, more quiet than I think I've ever seen him. I thought for a while that he might have passed out – but then . . . every once in a while I could hear a groan escape his mouth unchecked during one of Saleem's harder punches. For a while I – I think he was even hitting him with his gun boss. I really don't know how Tony came out as well as he did."

"Yeah McGee – well you didn't see the damage to his chest and ribs that I saw. But just be glad that you didn't and leave it at that. What happened next?"

"After the last report it seemed like Saleem had had it. He yelled at the man to leave but - then just about two minutes later Saleem left the room for a minute as well. I wanted to ask Tony if he was okay but – well I'm sure we both suspected that the room was wired with a video feed . . . and most likely audio bugs as well. Funny how they pretty much lived in dirt not to mention those flimsy shacks, yet they managed to have the best of technology shipped in along with other frivolous things like – like Caf-Pow – as though they were somewhere else rather than the middle of the desert!"

"McGee!"

"Sorry boss. Uh, anyway I – I knew I couldn't risk it so I just kept silent - listening to Tony wheezing through his busted nose until Saleem came back into the room, That was when he gave Tony the injection. He said something about it being his own creation – that it contained more than just sodium pentothal. And . . . the rest I think you already know."

"Okay that's good McGee. Now listen, that's a tough situation for even the most trained agents to deal with. You cannot question _anything_ you did or didn't do because - bottom line is, you kept a level head and didn't do anything that would jeopardize the mission. You have to remember that and be proud of how it all worked out. It's not worth if to beat yourself up over the things that didn't turn out as well. It's not your fault what Saleem did to Ziva – or to Tony. Ya got that?" Gruff Gibbs tone of voice returned with the last question and that did more to ease Tim's mind that the entire, and _rare_, pep talk his boss had just given him. Suddenly Gibbs shot right back to his previous Superhero status in McGee's eyes.

Gibbs had handed Tim one of the laptops along with the only headset they had been given and while he waited for McGee to get booted up and get the audio .wav file of the recorded phone call ready to play he decided to ask him for a few more specifics in regard to their time with Saleem.

Though he planned to make it look like SOP (standard operating procedure) . . . just a normal debriefing, what he _didn't _plan to tell him was that he needed the information so that he could better help Tony later, when he was ready to deal with the more negative aspects of the mission. Similar to how he had just helped McGee.

"Listen McGee now we don't have time for a full post-mission debriefing but is there anything else you think might be worth telling me as far as when Saleem came back into the room? You said he'd been rough on Tony physically but – could you tell how your partner seemed to be doing _mentally_? Both before and after the injection?"

McGee thought back to when Saleem had returned to the room holding the ominous black kit that contained some kind of drug. Then suddenly he found himself distracted by the awful memory as he thought back to when he first heard Saleem explaining to Tony that the drugs he was about to inject into his arm were of his own creation. Tim recalled feeling a chill run down his spine, worrying about his partner t the time - knowing how poorly Tony reacted to _normal_ drugs of any kind! He shuddered to think of how he might react to some _unknown_ concoction made up by a sadistic terrorist. It had taken every ounce of reserve Tim had left just to keep himself from jumping up from the filthy ground and knocking that syringe right out of the man's hands before he got anywhere near his partner.

"McGee" . . .

"**McGee**!"

Tim's head jerked up at the sound of Gibbs voice, startling him back to the present. "Oh . . . sorry boss. I - uh . . ."

He didn't even need to explain, somehow Gibbs always seemed to know what everyone was thinking whether they wanted him to or not. But this time it hadn't been hard at all for Gibbs to figure out just what his youngest agent was thinking since they had just been discussing the evil man and the drugged concoction he had administered to Tony that _**put **_him in the unstable condition that he was unfortunately, still in. He stole a quick glance across the room, thankful to see that Tony was still sleeping and looking somewhat peaceful before he turned his attention back to McGee.

"I don't need to know everything that happened McGee – I was _watching_. What I do need to know is what was _said_ - because **that** is what I was _not_ privy to." Gibbs

"Well a lot of the specifics aren't relevant but essentially he just immediately started in on Tony with the questions again knowing that now, Tony would now have no choice but to answer him. In fact it seemed as though at one point Tony was really fighting it, forcing himself not to talk at all until Saleem said something about a certain agent he had put into the drug that would make trying to fight it, really painful."

Gibbs jaw clenched in fury over hearing that last detail as his hand came up to lightly tough his tender eye and cheek that was now beginning to throb slightly. He thought more about what McGee had just told him . . . he hadn't realized that the drugs had caused his senior agent any pain whatsoever. He assumed that any pain he was in later was primarily due to his injuries.

"What do you mean? How did they cause him pain exactly?"

"I – I'm not exactly sure. But Saleem warned him about some aspects of the drugs in his system that Tony hadn't been made aware of. He said if Tony continued to struggle internally to fight off the strong effects of the truth serum, that it would only backfire by causing his adrenaline and blood pressure to spike which in turn would only cause the more painful side effects to flare up. Tony must have forced himself to relax though because Saleem again assured him it would be less painful that way."

Gibbs shook his head and there was fire in his eyes, he wished he could have strangled the man with his bare hands rather than just shooting him – now that me knew the extent of what he had put his agent through.

"Then what?"

"Well . . . Tony finished telling him about the rest of our team and that he wa- uh . . . that _**we**_ were here to seek vengeance on the person who killed Ziva."

Tim suddenly looked away from Gibbs as if afraid the man would read his mind and instantly know everything else that Tony had shared in that room – all brought on by the influence of a drug that forced his true feelings to rise up from a place deep down in his heart – and shoot straight out of his mouth with no control whatsoever to stop it.

The truth serum had made it impossible for Tony to hide his true feelings for Ziva and even though Tim had already suspected there might be more to their relationship ever since Tony and Ziva had gone under deep cover as married assasins– but by the end of this past long Summer, he had observed Tony becoming more withdrawn and despondent with each passing day, and now – after what he forcefully divulged to Saleem there was no doubt in Tim's mind . . .

Tony was in love with Ziva.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N - **Sorry for shorter chapter then usual. It's not that much shorter but it's also not moving the story very far. I just couldn't help but dive deeper into what McGee and Tony went through as well as add parts that we never got to see on that episode. I will finish this conversation between Gibbs and McGee off at the start of the next chapter because I want to talk more about what happened between these two getting ambushed at the Hummer – to when they appeared in the room w/ Saleem. But then I will get the story moving quickly I promise! _

_**I would still love to know what you thought of this chapter so pls review! :-) Thx!**_


	17. Danger In The Desert

_**A/N – Short note about this chapter. It took long to write because I couldn't stop and I wanted to fill in as many blanks as possible as far as scenes we didn't get to see on the actual show.. So I had to split it in two because it was way too long. I did take some liberties and have allowed Gibbs to talk more than usual but even on the show when they are a man or two down Gibbs always steps up and there are plenty of epi's where he talks more than usual. I also want to point out that none of the military stuff or medical stuff is 100% factual so read it with an open mind – I think it's at least believable. I hope you enjoy!**_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

Tim had been filling Gibbs in on the details of what Tony had told Saleem about the reason for the mission. . . .

_The truth serum had made it impossible for Tony to hide his true feelings for Ziva and even though Tim had already suspected there might be more to their relationship ever since Tony and Ziva had gone under deep cover as a couple – but by the end of this past long Summer, he had observed Tony becoming more withdrawn and despondent with each passing day, and now – after what he forcefully divulged to Saleem there was no doubt in Tim's mind . . ._

_Tony was in love with Ziva._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XVII**

_**Isolation Ward – 30 minutes prior to when the terrorist's were supposed to make their 2nd call . . .**_

"Okay McGee. You did good." Gibbs offered his rare praise to the junior agent after Tim finished telling him everything that his boss wasn't able to hear during Tony's interrogation by Saleem since Gibbs wasn't privy to any audio.

"Thanks boss. How're they doing?" McGee asked while looking in the direction of his sleeping teammates.

"Better. Tony's fever broke again for the time being but they still haven't determined why Ziva's sick."

"You don't think they injected her with some similar drugs or virus like they gave Tony do you? Or, maybe her getting sick proved that he **is** contagious after all."

"No McGee – my gut's telling me it's something else. She was forced to live in s filthy environment for months and she's obviously malnourished. I wouldn't be surprised if all she has is appendicitis or somethin' like that. ."

McGee was caught off guard by Gibbs opinion of Ziva's ailment. He wished he possessed the same uncanny ability that Gibbs and Tony both seemed to have - but he had to admit – he really didn't understand the whole "gut" thing in the first place, probably never would.

"Well, I hope you're right. I'm glad to hear that Tony's fever finally broke though, that's good news. Now uh, I have a question for _you _boss - if I may." Tim decided to take advantage of his bosses' calm demeanor. Then after realizing that Gibbs was waiting rather impatiently for him to ask his question, he forced himself to focus and continue.

"Well . . . how'd you know where to find us after we never called in after the last abandoned campsite we went to check out? I mean, we didn't have the luxury of wireless capabilities so - there were no ear wicks or mics to communicate with."

"Ya ever heard of a little thing called a satellite? Geez McGee, Just how hard did they hit you out there?"

Tim pondered Gibbs comment and realized he had forgotten a few things. "Wow boss I guess maybe I was more affected by this whole mission than I thought – guess my memory's a little spotty." he admitted. Then pausing for a second it came back to him.

"Wait, now I remember. Abby . . . she . . . she had all those GPS gadgets and she wanted us to wear all of them. Man for a minute I really thought she was serious when she said she was going to have Ducky surgically embed one of them under our skin!"

Gibbs decided to fill in the rest of the blanks for his youngest agent so as not to waste any time. If anyone knew how deeply shock could affect someone's memory after an extremely dangerous assignment - it was Gibbs.

"Yeah McGee well even I wouldn't let her go_ that_ far - no matter how much I wanted to keep tabs on you two. But I will give her this, her idea to insert the chips inside the rubber soles of those combat boots you two wore was ingenious. Those proved to be the only method we had out there as far as tracking you all over that desert and back. Come to think of it, without those I never would have agreed to let you two go off half cocked in the first place!" he added gruffly.

Tim was still hung up on the fact that he had forgotten something that like in the first place since he was always so impressed with the latest techno gadgets that Abby always seemed to have on hand. He forced himself to relax in hopes that it would help him to unravel some other missing pieces to the forgotten puzzle.

"I think I remember now. You kept tabs on our location by using that hand held electronic map of the desert. It reflected two red dots keeping you apprised of our location at all times."

"Yup, you got it." Gibbs confirmed. "Then when I realized that you two goofballs had missed your last check in, yet your signals were still moving - I knew something was up. I followed em until it brought me closer to the terrorist camp and then once I was able to identify Saleem through my scope, I kept tabs on his every move until he finally led me to the room you and Tony had been thrown in."

Tim was half listening because he couldn't stop thinking how this had to be by far the longest period of time that his boss ever conversed with him in this manner. It was nice. He realized that the only time Gibbs ever seemed to take time to do that was when one or more of his team was either missing, injured, or like in Kate's case – killed. Tim looked back towards Gibbs the second he realized he had zoned out for a minute. He forced himself to refocus and listen to what his boss was telling him in case any more questions were to come his way.

"-. . . so once I found a direct view into that room, I set up my sniper's nest and watched for either a sign that things were going downhill – or the 'all clear' signal from Tony, whichever came first." he stopped talking and looked back over towards his sleeping but fidgeting agent for a moment.

"Wow boss, I don't think I could ever be a sniper. I wouldn't have the patience to just sit out there waiting hour after without going nuts."

"Yeah well, that's what things like 'training and conditioning' are all about McGee. It's not something that comes naturally – or easily for that matter. A Military sniper is up there with some of the most intensely trained positions one can have in the Army or Marines."

"Well I know I'm just a field agent but trained or not, I couldn't even remember something as small as the damn locator devices and it's not normal for me to forget one of Abby's cool gadgets." McGee admitted while looking down to the floor and shaking his head, suddenly feeling very inept.

"Don't be so hard on yourself McGee. This is also the most dangerous mission you have been a part of since you first came onto my team. Sometimes even the best agents forget something now and then during a stressful operation – including myself. We were lucky this time but you have to remember – we also had some of the best back up an agent can get. Our local US Military base station."

Tim looked back up at his boss realizing in all the commotion that their military back up was something else that had slipped his mind temporarily. He listened intently as Gibbs finished filling him in on what happened while he and Tony were held captive so he would no longer have holes in his memory and could better assist his boss in catching the terrorist whom now threatened them with more harm for their role in killing Saleem..

"Once I was no longer receiving your updates I followed your signals to the camp at which time I notified the Black Ops helicopter pilot giving him the coordinates as well. He in turn contacted the rest of the awaiting operatives and ordered them to get into position and await further instructions. How exactly did they overtake you two in the first place? "

"Well, as lame as this sounds they uh, basically snuck up on us boss. Tony told me to call it in and let you know we had hit another dead end and counting this one - that made **five** abandoned campsites that we had gone to so far that turned up nothing. But now in hindsight I think we were just too exhausted and frustrated at that point so we really weren't at the top of our game - if we had been I'm sure we would have sensed their presence much sooner than we did." Gibbs nodded in agreement over Tim's explanation.

"Then all of a sudden Tony called out to me and when I looked over towards him I was shocked to see a large number of armed and masked men coming out from behind the rocks in droves, I turned to look back behind me just in time to see a few of them approaching me as well. Tony told me to try using the words I had been trained to say if we got caught – you know, letting them know we were unarmed and meant no harm. But . . . it's as if they had planned to attack us no matter what we said in our defense and before we had time to resort to plan B - they were all over us.

Tim paused for a second at the painful and frightening memory. "Once I realized it wasn't working I glanced over to check on Tony's situation again, I was hoping some of my words had managed to at least get through to someone on _his_ side of the Hummer - but unfortunately that wasn't the case and . . . well, at that point the men around Tony had quickly surrounded him and just as I turned back to protect myself on my side, I heard Tony yell out in pain as he received a gun butt to his ribs right before I was greeted with a rifle butt of my own right in the gut. As I doubled over I could hear them nailing Tony more than once - it sounded awful boss, I swear I heard his ribs crack from the force they were hitting him with. But I had my own group to contend with. The last thing I saw before I was hit again was two or three of them nailing him practically all at once with a series of blows – I'm sure like they were hitting him everywhere - his gut, ribs, head . . . then . . . I – I don't remember much after that, I was knocked out fairly quickly, I came to a little bit later but we were still traveling to their newest location."

Gibbs forced himself not to cringe at the thought of what his two agents went through for the sake of their missing former teammate. It warmed his heart more than he would ever admit to anyone.

"You regained consciousness en route?" Gibbs finally asked surprised that still rather amateur McGee had managed to keep his cool under some extremely terrifying circumstances. "It's more possible than I first thought that you might recognize the voice of the one making these calls to us. Go on McGee, tell me the rest."

Tim had to struggle to remember all of the details since at the time his head had been throbbing and his senses were definitely in a disarray.

"I can't promise anything but maybe once I hear their voice it will come back to me. Some were traveling by horseback, some were walking and one of them was driving the only vehicle they had – a small jeep . They threw me in the back of the jeep and Tony over one of the horses. Since they hadn't noticed I had woken up, I remained still and tried to spot Tony to see how he was holding up. They had zip tied our hands together but thankfully in front of us rather than behind out backs.

"I made sure to take in our surrounding carefully without being spotted in case we needed to find our way back out if anything went wrong. Some of the men were walking some were on horseback. Then I was able to spot Tony out of the corner of my eye, they had thrown him over the bare back of a horse and were leading it next to the jeep and slightly behind. As I watched him there was no mistaking he was still unconscious because you know as well as I do that Tony would have immediately started taunting them with his sarcastic comments. Sometimes I think he is either foolishly brave – or has some kind of death wish!"

Gibbs grinned at that comment since the same thought had crossed him mind only a few minutes earlier.

"He didn't come to again until we finally arrived at the campsite. First I was yanked out of the jeep and thrown down to the ground where I continued to play possum. I just hoped they wouldn't separate Tony and I. A couple of minutes later they threw Tony down in the dirt right next to me with enough force to finally jar him awake. I could hear him groaning in pain from his injuries, I knew the fall on his busted ribs had to have been excruciating."

Gibbs heart sank over the thought of the pain that these two had endured but he was still never more proud of them as he was right now. He interjected for a minute just to inform McGee that by the time the two of them were being brought to the campsite, he was already more than half way to their location that point. He had missed seeing them when they first arrived at the camp so he appreciated McGee filling him in on what had happened during that time. Nodding his head towards McGee, he signaled him to continue.

"Luckily they did decide to keep us together rather than separate us, but they kept out hands bound as they half dragged half carried us inside where they just tossed us into some semi-dark room like we were nothing more than bags of useless trash. The floor was so dirty - covered with dust and bits of sand. I had to fight the urge to sneeze because I knew that would alert everyone that I was awake."

"**McGee."** Gibbs stated as he pointed to the clock on the wall, gently reminding him of their limited time and that he really didn't care to hear _every_ minor detail.

"Sorry boss, so uh - anyway, I kept pretending to be out until I could better evaluate our situation and determine if anyone else was in there with us. But I'll tell you one thing – Tony definitely has that same eerie ability that you have – you know, where you can sense things before anyone else has even noticed anything unusual?"

"Callin' me eerie McGee?"

"Uh no boss of cour- never. Uh I'm jus' sayin' Tony knew I was faking it even though I hadn't even moved a muscle or so much as breathed very loud. He kept his voice down to a whisper and ordered me with the threat of strangulation that I was to play possum for as long as I could or at least until he gave me his cue – that we had discussed earlier while riding all over the desert. Only Tony would use the word 'pizza' as his signal during a deadly mission!"

"What? Why the hell did he tell ya to do that?" Gibbs didn't recall playing possum as being _any_ part of the initial plan since they had covered every possible scenario that could potentially occur before they while on the flight over to South Africa – including how each of them would handle the situation if either one of them were to be put out of commission for any length of time.

"You know Tony, I think he just felt it would be safer for me that way and . . . I think he was starting to feel guilty over volunteering me like he did."

"What? Why would Tony feel guilty for that?"

"Well it's all my fault . . . I uh . . . kind of gave him a hard time about it."

"You gave hi- what? McGee sometimes I don't know what gets into you but – geez. You _**know**_ damn well how sensitive DiNozzo is about pleasing everyone! Ya know McGee, if Tony hadn't volunteered you – _**I **_would have! Ya wanna get mad at me too while yer at it?" Gibbs disappointment in McGee was obvious

"No Gibbs I . . . I really don't know what got into me. I mean of course I would have volunteered anyway . . . I really wanted to find Ziva too boss. It's just that – well, you know how Tony's always razzing me and getting me all riled up on a daily basis and . . . I guess I just . . . I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. I really didn't think it would bother him enough to cause him to risk his life even more than he needed to!"

"Alright Tim, just go on. Just what did you say to him?"

"Well we had been driving around for hours and I was getting tired. But Tony seemed to get even _more_ energetic the longer we were out there! I . . . well I may have let him think I was angry with him over the whole volunteering thing. But even then, you know Tony - he _still_ kept pointing out the positive perks of the mission such as – our getting to travel places we normally wouldn't have been able to see, and the fact that it wasn't coming out of our own pocket."

Gibbs' anger quickly subsided to the point that he had to fight to stifle a full out laugh! Only Tony would find something positive to say about an extremely risky and dangerous mission that could very well have brought both of their lives to a gruesome and painful end. He really did seem to be fearless . . . maybe even foolishly so as Tim had pointed out earlier.

"Yup . . . we know Tony." was his only response.

_**TBC . . .**_

_**I had to end it here but I will be posting another chapter later today! Bonus two chapters in one day? Yes two! Bonus. Pls review and let me know how you liked this one. :-) Thank you.**_


	18. In Jeopardy

_**Here's the bonus update as promised . ~ Enjoy! ~**_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

"_Well we had been driving around for hours and I was getting tired. But Tony seemed to get even more energetic the longer we were out there! I . . . well I may have let him think I was angry with him over the whole volunteering thing. But even then, you know Tony - he still kept pointing out the positive perks of the mission such as – our getting to travel places we normally wouldn't have been able to see, and the fact that it wasn't coming out of our own pocket."_

_Gibbs' anger quickly subsided to the point that he had to fight to stifle a full out laugh! Only Tony would find something positive to say about an extremely risky and dangerous mission that could very well have brought both of their lives to a gruesome and painful end. He really did seem to be fearless . . . maybe even foolishly so._

"_Yup . . . we know Tony." was his only response._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XVIII**

**Isolation Ward – McGee & Gibbs . . .**

Tim was still bringing Gibbs up to speed on all that he had missed when they were out of contact with each other. He was now explaining how Saleem had come into the room where Tony and McGee were being held, he brought along two of his burliest men.

"That was the first we saw of him Gibbs, he wasn't with the group who nabbed us. He knelt down near me and seemed to be just staring dat me, I could hear him breathing he was so close and it was making me nervous. I know he was trying to see if I was faking it. Then Tony groaned again only more loudly than before – I just knew he had done that on purpose because he knew it would redirect Saleem's focus onto him instead of me and . . . well, it worked. I think Saleem must have motioned for his thugs because I could hear them shuffling over towards Tony and they just they hauled him up as if he weighed nothing and roughly threw him back down into the one of the chairs that had been pulled out to the middle of the room not far from me. I know because I heard them dragging it from against one of the walls where I had spotted a couple of chairs and a bench when I first glanced around earlier. It definitely jarred his busted ribs Gibbs, the howl of pain he let out was unbearable to listen to. I wanted to jump up and tackle them all right then and there but I knew it would only make matters worse."

"McGee you did the right thing. If you had interacted with them at that point you could very easily have been killed. They didn't need both of you to get the information they were seeking. You were right to stay down."

It made Tim feel good to know that his boss stood behind his decision to stay down. It eased some of the guilt he had been feeling.

"Thanks boss, that means a lot. So that's when Saleem first started grilling Tony and knocking him around, he alternated with letting his two side kicks have a shot at him but then he sent them from the room. A few minutes later Saleem stepped out and when he came back . . . he had that kit with him. You know the -"

"I know McGee, I know. That's enough for now Tim. We need to get ready for the call now anyway. Thank you for filling in some of the blanks for me. We needed to debrief somewhat anyway so it's best to do it when your memory is still fresh." He reached over and patted Tim on the shoulder a couple of times causing the younger agent to smile at his bosses' recognition.

**A Few Minutes Later . . .**

McGee looked at his watch, seeing that they had plenty of time to prepare for the call. He figured Gibbs had simply reached his tolerance for having an actual conversation more so than wanting to get ready, but he went along with it nonetheless.

"Okay boss it's a little over twelve minutes until the next call. What do you need me to do?"'

"I need you to listen to the tape of the last call - tell me if you recognize the voice. When you were on the floor, your eyes were closed so your other senses would have been your ears would have been more sensitive, including your hearing. It's possible that whomever is threatening us was one of Saleem's top men."

"Yeah but how could anyone have gotten away, when the military raided the place while you came to find us, I thought they rounded up everyone."

"Yeah well so did I. Look, we'll worry about how the hell he got away later, right now we have bigger things to focus on."

McGee slid the head phones on and did as he was told while Gibbs paged a nurse by pressing the call button near the bed that was supposed to be for medical emergencies, someone was supposed to have delivered a phone a long time ago, he needed it so he could talk to Abby and make sure she was able to set up on her end to trace on the main hospital switchboard line. She had received the equipment and assistance from some of the local military troupes that had helped them with the local end of the mission.

Five minutes had gone by since he first rang for a staff member and finally he spotted a nurse finally entering the room. He reprimanded him for his Gibbs' impatient and repeated misuse of the call button but once he explained his reason for doing so she quickly ran off knowing that it might not be medical but it was definitely urgent.

She returned almost immediately, guiltily bringing with her telephone that she herself bad been ordered by the chief physician to deliver over an hour ago. She proceeded to plug it into the phone jack near Gibbs' bed where he quickly dialed Abby. It was vital that they ran a successful trace in order to pin down the location of the threatening caller. If successful Abby had been instructed to immediately send the coordinates to head of the Black Ops division whom were on high alert of the situation and they would go attempt to apprehend the person or persons responsible.

While he was on the phone with Abby Tim finished listening to the initial phone threat over the head phones. The call had only lasted a total duration of approximately 3.5 minutes and McGee unfortunately did not recognize the voice, though he secretly hoped that it might somehow act as a trigger of sorts to get his tired mind to release another trapped memory later on.

Gibbs hung up, informing Tim that Abby was ready to trace on the call as long as Gibbs could find a way to keep the creep talking long enough. It was near perfect timing as the phone on the table between Gibbs and Tim started ringing as the switchboard had been told to transfer the call to this direct extension.

"Agent Gibbs speaking." Gibbs made sure Ziva and Tony were still out before he pressed the speakerphone button so McGee could listen. Maybe hearing more of the voice would help him recognize it.

"Ahh . . . just the person I was looking for. You are the leader of the two agents who are responsible for killing m – our leader Saleem are you not?"

"Well ya got_**part**_ of that right." Gibbs angrily replied. His agents didn't pull the trigger on Saleem, _**he**_ did.

"Now I think you better tell me what the hell you're after you son-of-a-bitch! **NOW**!" McGee watched in amazement as Gibbs somehow managed to yell - without _literally_ raising his voice. He was determined not to let Ziva or Tony hear what was going down as he knew they would want to help, regardless of the fact that neither of them could even sit up straight - sick or not they would still demand to assist somehow.

"What is going on Agent Gibbs, is that we are seeking an eye for an eye as they say. I demand that you hand over your Senior Field Agent to us by midnight tonight or I promise you, the hospital will lose an entire wing if you don't . . . and I won't hesitate to start with the _maternity_ wing!" he explained sadistically while Gibbs could almost hear the man grinning.

His infamous gut clenched even tighter than before, it was clear this man wasn't messing around and with terrorists he knew damn well they weren't bluffing! But even though t_hey _might not bluff there was no reason Gibbs couldn't.

"Yeah? Now why the hell would I do that? My Senior Field Agent did not _shoot_ your leader Saleem . . . _**I **_**did**! And in case you haven't heard – NCIS does NOT negotiate with terrorist's!" Gibbs knew he was pissing the man off even more but he had to stall no matter what the consequences.

"Ohh-ho but this is **not** a negotiation A-**gent G**ibbs. You may have been the one to physically pull the trigger - but it was your Agent DiNozzo who supplied the ammunition so to speak!"

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Gibbs retorted, his face now bright red with fury.

"NO! **YOU** don't know Agent Gibbs! _**You **_don't have the taped conversation between Agent DiNozzo and Saleem! **I **recorded it _and_ I also escaped with the tape! According to your precious agent who as you know was under the heavy influence of **truth** serum when he **admitted** to being the one who initiated this plan from the beginning. In his own words he admitted that the mission was initiated by he himself and fueled by his own personal vendetta! Essentially the very core of the so called _mission_ – was nothing more than vengeance for the death of Ziva David - the Mossad spy we had captured! And as you know she was not even **dead!"**

Pausing for a second he mumbled just under his breath, "I should have killed her when I had the chance! It was my foolish -. . . it was Saleem who demanded that she be kept alive!"

Gibbs also paused before responding. He knew the man wouldn't hang up without getting a final answer and surely by now Abby had his coordinates and was getting the info to the military operatives. Gibbs was starting to realize the man didn't seem to have a clue that Saleem had mixed other drugs, including a possible virus, in with the Sodium Pentothol - or if he _did_ know, it could mean that the potent mixture wasn't not contagious after all, and perhaps not deadly after all. Gibbs unfortunately didn't have time to figure out which of those options it actually was.

"If you think I'll just turn my agent over to you - you're as insane as Saleem was . . ." then he thought of another bluff to try, "Besides that – he's in critical condition, they don't expect him to make it through the night. So it looks like the man you called a 'leader' has already taken his own vengeance."

The silence on the other end made Gibbs and McGee both look at each other, grins starting to form across their faces after they realized the man seemed to believe Gibbs and was obviously trying to figure out what to do next.

"We are **not **done with this and this is not the last you have heard from me!"

Click – **bzzzzzzz**.

Gibbs heard the call disconnect and then nothing but dial tone echoed through the room. As soon as his boss put the phone back into it's cradle he looked over to see McGee raising his own hand up in the air as if getting ready to give his boss a high five. The cranky stare he received in rfeturn was all it took for him to quickly drop his back down to his lap..

"Uhh, sounds like he believed you boss. But what if he has someone planted in the hospital? He could find out that Tony's not quite on the verge of death as you mentioned and learn that he's been holding his own so far. They could also use that internal mole to plant a bomb in the maternity wing if he decides to follow through on that threat."

"We'll worry about that later McGee right now I need to see if Abby was successful."

He then called his favorite forensic specialist and was happy to hear she had successfully traced the call and a military field team was sent out immediately to the coordinates she supplied. His next call was to the Lieutenant in charge to get an update from him.

"Bill, Gibbs. Tell me you have some good news for me."

"I wish I could Gunny. My boys got there in record time only to find the area had already been abandoned. They found a disposable cell phone laying crushed on the ground as if someone had stomped on it. But the good news is they did uncover some tire tracks that appears to be from some kind of jeep. We'll get the plaster casts of the tracks to your lab rat Abby within the hour."

"Dammit! Alright pal, I appreciate your help and pass that on to your team. I'll also need every damn piece of that phone and any other evidence they find."

"You got it Gibbs, sorry we weren't able to do more. How **are** your agents holding up anyway?"

"They'll be fine. Thanks again though – I'll be in touch."

McGee let out a sigh of frustration having heard every unfortunate word over the speakerphone. Gibbs decided he needed to get not only McGee's mind off of the disappointing news, but his own as well so standing up he signaled to Tim to follow him as he headed towards the opposite end of the long ward to check in on their other team members.

First stop was Tony's bed where each man went to stand on opposite sides of the slumbering agent. It was obvious to both of them the minute they got there, that Tony was caught up in delirium once again as he was his body was tossing and jerking slightly as if trying to get away from something or someone. He was mumbling incoherently to the point that neither Gibbs nor McGee could decipher a single word he was saying. They glanced across the bed at each other in worry until Gibbs decided he should play it safe and page a nurse to come check Tony's temperature and make sure it wasn't in the middle of another spike.

But before he had even made a move for the call button, both men were startled by a loud alarm sounding near Ziva's bed. Snapping their heads in her direction they were almost too stunned to move until the sound of people running into the room brought their focus back to the forefront.

As the nurses began to check Ziva's machines and vital signs one of them started doling out orders. "Her blood pressure's down and still dropping! Jace – administer 2 cc's of Ephedrine! Amelia – hang one unit of plasma! I'll go page Dr. Nokur, her abdomen is extended and tight on the left side." with that the lead nurse fled the room as the others tackled their tasks with speed and proficiency.

Gibbs and McGee stood still, both not expecting this turn of events. Their heads turned towards the doors again when the doctor came through faster than anyone expected. After listening to Ziva's stomach with his stethoscope he then started palpating her abdomen on the lower left side before announcing:

"Prep her for surgery."

_**TBC . . **_

_**Note: Don't worry – I will bring the focus back to Tony's strange illness very quickly. But I have to write the story as I initially planned and that included shedding more light on what hell Ziva went through during her months of captivity since that cannot be ignored like they did on the show. :-) Pls review and thank you to all of you who reviewed all previous chapters!**_


	19. More Trouble For Tony & Ziva

_**A/N – **None of the facts that the Doc mentioned concerning Ziva's injuries are 100% factual. But I think they are at least believable for this story. The story update that is next in line will be mny "Matter Of Life & Death" fic followed by "Mistaken Identity" (Bones) and then "Phobia". **:-) Thank you to all who took time to review! ~ Enjoy ~**_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

_As the nurses began to check Ziva's machines and vital signs one of them started doling out orders. "Her blood pressure's down and still dropping! Jace – administer 2 cc's of Ephedrine! Amelia – hang one unit of plasma! I'll go page Dr. Nokur, her abdomen is extended and tight on the left side." with that the lead nurse fled the room as the others tackled their tasks with speed and proficiency._

_Gibbs and McGee stood still, both not expecting this turn of events. Their heads turned towards the doors again when the doctor came through faster than anyone expected. After listening to Ziva's stomach with his stethoscope he then started palpating her abdomen on the lower left side before announcing:_

"_Prep her for surgery."_

**_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_**

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XIX**

**Hospital Isolation Ward – Somalia . . .**

"Prep her for surgery! I want to see her being rolled into OR in less than ten minutes!"

Gibbs and McGee hurried over closer to Ziva's bed, making sure not to get close enough as to get in anyone's way.

"Doctor, what is it? What's wrong with my agen – with her?" Gibbs demanded, almost referring to Ziva as one of his agents since he had momentarily forgotten she had been gone for the past few months after he himself had left her in Israel..

"It's what I had suspected might happen after seeing the fading bruising on her abdomen. Whatever did that damage while she was held hostage took its toll on her spleen which isn't surprising since that organ can be quite sensitive to damage. I'm afraid it's declined at a faster rate than usual though and now appears it may be rupturing."

"What? Isn't that something you could have prevented?" Gibbs asked, anger evident in his tone.

"Unfortunately Agent Gibbs, a the spleen doesn't always give us much warning before it starts to rupture and that makes it difficult to diagnose too far in advance – but now that it's gotten to this stage I am almost certain it will need to be removed and the good news is, it's a routine operation and she will be recover just fine and with minimal scarring. I'll know more once I get in there but either way she is showing signs of internal bleeding so I need to get in there NOW and stop it and make sure there are no other sources." he paused briefly and seemed to notice the light bruising appearing around the lead agent's eye. He decided to wait and ask about it after he finished explaining what he was going to do with his female patient.

"Now gentlemen, that's the worst case scenario of course but I want you to know that I always try to repair the organ first rather than immediately remove it. We will only resort to the drastic measure of removal if we find the spleen to be too far gone or simply too damaged to mend. But that decision will also depend on her blood pressure and other vitals holding out and she is still very dehydrated and weak from malnourishment so . . . that brings a new set of uh – _challenges_ for lack of a better term, that we have to overcome. I will send someone out mid-way through surgery to give you an update."

"Okay thank you. Take good care of her Doctor, she's still a part of our team and we need her." Gibbs admitted, much to McGee's surprise.

"Yes I see that Agent Gibbs, you have my word she will be in good hands. In the meantime I suggest you seek a nurse out to get you an ice pack to put on that eye before the swelling gets any worse. He winked at Gibbs letting him know he didn't miss the new injury. You can tell me how that happened when I bring Ziva back from recovery.

Even after the doctor had left the room McGee didn't even realize he was still staring at Gibbs with his mouth open in awe of what he had just heard. He had been shocked when his boss basically admitted his feelings about Ziva and to needing her on the team. He didn't think he had ever heard his boss admit to having sentimental feelings like that towards _anyone_ on his team, not even Abby. Or as least he never voiced them out loud - using actual words. Sure, he had made it clear how he felt about each of them before in other ways but it had always just been reflected more in his actions or his facial expressions – never had he actually _spoken_ of his feelings before.

"Do I have somethin' on my face Ma-Gee?" Gibbs hollered slightly without even looking in McGee's direction. Gibbs kept his eyes focused on Ziva as she was shifted over to a mobile bed and pushed quickly out the door towards OR.

"Uhh – no boss. Er, yeah uh . . . I was just looking at your . . . b-bruised eye. Maybe . . . you should do what the doctor said, an ice pack is probably a good idea boss." he had to think fast to cover the_ real_ reason for his doe eyed stare. He couldn't just blurt out the real reason his eyes were boring a hole in the side of his intimidating bosses' face. Oddly enough, he found himself suddenly thankful for the bruised eye that he himself was responsible for but that now gave a pretty viable excuse. Talk about a blessing in disguise he thought briefly.

Now he waited, hoping that his overly intuitive boss wouldn't see right through the deceptive answer. McGee knew that it would lead to a very awkward conversation if he admitted what he was _really_ thinking about - the words of sentiment Gibbs admitted having towards Ziva that he had just been witness to. '_Damn, I wish Tony were around to hear that, he will never believe me when I tell him about this!_' Tim thought to himself glancing towards his partner's bed.

Finally turning to look at his slightly nervous junior agent, Gibbs knew Tim was holding something back but he chose to just drop it since they had so many other things that needed their attention at the moment. Once the medical staff to take care of Ziva, Gibbs turned towards Tim and noticed the worry that was evident in his eyes.

"Alright McGee, Ziva's going to be fine because I say she will. Have I ever lied to you?"

"No boss, never." McGee instantly felt relieved and wasn't so concerned anymore. Even though he knew that logically there was no way Gibbs could really determine whether Ziva made it through surgery or not – he still found himself feeling completely confident that she would.

"Okay now come on, before we can focus our efforts on that terrorist threat, we need to get someone in here to check on Tony. Judging by how delirious he seemed to be when we checked on him a few minutes ago, I don't need to be a medical expert to see that his fever's on the upswing again."

"Got it boss, I'll go press the call button near his bed." but before either one of them had even taken a step forward, the ward doors opened again drawing their attention to the entrance. They both looked up to see Ducky heading towards them – or course wearing the familiar protective mask over his mouth and nose.

Ducky made his way quickly over to Tony's bedside the second he spotted the lines of concern etched in Gibbs face. He knew his friend well and there were only a handful of situations that brought out that look. It was an expression of intense worry mixed with fear of losing someone else special to him.

Looking immediately at Tony he instantly found the reason for the concern on not only Gibbs face but Agent McGee's as well. Tony's face bore the all too obvious signs of a dangerously high fever – flushed complexion, shivering while also sweating, areas of skin not flushed bright red, were made even more pale in contrast. Ducky got to work lowering the blankets covering the agent and loosening the hospital gown to let more air get to Tony's body in an attempt to at least start to cool his burning flesh.

Meanwhile, oblivious to Ducky's ministrations as well as anything that was going on around him in the physical world, Tony found himself caught up in his own psyche as delirium kept him trapped there with seemingly no way to break free. His mind swirled literally as he went from seeing the face of Saleem just inches from his own spewing threat after threat, to seeing McGee laying on the floor where they were held captive - only this time his neck was twisted in an abnormal fashion and his eyes were open and boring into Tony's with the unmistakable and vacant stare of death.

That horrific vision gave way to his next delusion where he found himself once again seated directly across from Ziva and still strapped to his dreaded chair. He was just staring straight ahead at Ziva's face – but this time it was more obvious that she was more broken in ways Tony couldn't even begin to fathom. Broken from all that had happened to her – tears flowing down her face leaving clean trails where the salty liquid washed away layers of grime that had built up on her porcelain skin during months of captivity and horror.

Every dream seemed to be fragmented yet still managed to flow from one nightmare straight into the next and hence creating one non-stop marathon dream. At one point unbeknown to Tony he must have subconsciously felt the physical pain that suddenly flared up in his broken hand for whatever reason - because in the next segment of the never ending dream - he was no longer trapped in a chair but was now standing and still facing Ziva but in this segment of his delirious rendition of events - **_she _**was the one crushing his hand tightly in her own hand, using one of the many Mossad tactics he had seen her use to take suspects down in seconds without breaking a sweat, or a fingernail. She was saying that everything that happened to her was his fault and his fault alone. His fault for loving her and letting his own petty jealousy cause him to murder the man**_ she_** loved – he knew that she was referring to Rivkin without anyone mentioning his name.

"No . . . **NO – ZIVA**!" he hollered out in his dream and in reality as Ducky, Gibbs and McGee all rushed over to gather around his bed, worry commandeering all of their expressions. "Boss, how? Do you think he somehow knows that Ziva is wors-"

"No McGee." Gibbs cut off his junior agent because he didn't believe in all that psychic babble. "He's probably just reliving the events from a few months back when we thought she was dead Tim."

Gibbs answered McGee's unfinished question with care and compassion rarely expressed. Tim had been going to ask if he thought somehow Tony knew Ziva had gotten worse and had been rushed to surgery but unbeknown to him there were two reasons for his boss to answer so quickly.

One was the fact that Gibbs did not want McGee to verbally announce Ziva's worsening condition since he knew Tony was probably able to hear them on some subconscious level. The second reason was purely from memories of his own past struggle coming back from his deep coma in which he himself had been caught up in a whirlwind of dreams. The most intense, realistic and emotionally draining dreams he had ever had before, or since.

"Ducky?" Gibbs looked to the ME for reassurance that Tony would be okay.

Ducky looked down at Tony with empathy, wishing he had some miracle cure for him that would help end not only the nightmare their senior agent was caught up in – but this real life nightmare in general that all of them were now part of. Reaching out to rest the back of his hand gently on Tony's sweat covered forehead he almost jerked his hand back out of reflex and surprise at the amount of heat that the damp flesh was emanating.

"Oh my. I haven't been privy to how high his temperature has been up to now but I would venture to say it's probably reaching a new peak right now." Before anyone had a chance to even absorb what he was saying Ducky had already pressed the call button to alert someone from the medical staff immediately.

"Ahhh hell DiNozzo! I thought we were through with this damn fluctuating fever of yours." Gibbs said out loud though he never intended to. Then there was McGee - just from sheer worry over his partner's well being he looked almost more pale than Tony did at this point - but only because the fever had brought the flushed red tone back to the ailing man's cheeks.

Just then Ducky happened to notice the bruised and slightly swollen area near one of Gibbs eyes where McGee had accidentally clipped him. "Jethro! What on earth happened to your eye? That is quite a substantial shiner." he said as he briefly evaluated the slight damage. "Please - tell me you did not say something inappropriate to one of Tony's doctors." the ME half teased, he knew of his friend's lack of control when it came to anyone messing with his team – and doctor's were no exception.

"No Duck really it's nothing. Just got too close to McGee when he was waking from one of his own nightmares that's all. I'll be fine, I've had worse black eyes than this before."

"Well nonetheless, you really should have a -"

"Ducky – I'm fine - end of discussion." Gibbs made it clear he wasn't having this conversation and Ducky knew him well enough to trust his judgment and drop the subject. He could tell it wasn't a very bad contusion as black eyes were concerned. All of their heads once again turned towards the entrance as one of the staff nurses they had become familiar with headed towards them. "Hello gentlemen. I was actually just about to head in here anyway to check on this one." she nodded towards Tony. Someone pressed the call button?"

Gibbs found himself irritated at the woman's jovial enthusiasm. It was as if she didn't have a care in the world and either didn't even realize how seriously ill his senior agent was becoming – or she didn't care.

But either way it wasn't sitting well with him and it took all of his willpower not to go off on the cheerful nurse. Ducky recognized the darkening cloud of rage that was taking over his friend's features and intervened hoping to avoid any king of confrontation. "Yes Anthony's fever is in my opinion reaching dangerous levels and though I do not know what his temperature has been thus far, I can tell you that it's as high as any fever I have ever felt with my bare hands. I suggest you take his vitals so we can get a true picture of his condition." the concerned ME politely but firmly encouraged.

She did just that, while Gibbs, Ducky and McGee all waited impatiently to hear the results. But all of their eyes were fixated on Tony as he continued thrashing around in the small bed, obviously still caught up in the throes of his delirious and ongoing nightmare.

Gibbs was closest to Tony's head with Tim standing next to him towards the end of the bed. He reached down and lightly grasped Tony's shoulder hoping it would somehow ground the man and even pull him out of his dream state by forcing his body to turn its attention to the new sensation. To everyone's surprise it seemed to work after a couple of minutes – Tony's body relaxed a little more and though still sporting a look of intense anguish on his fevered face, at least his arms and legs seemed to slow in their incessant jerking.

"That's it Tony, just take it easy. You did a good job but the job is done so right now you need to calm down and just rest." Seeing even more of the tension leaving Tony's body caused Gibbs to unknowingly breathe easier as well.

To Tim's increasing shock Gibbs continued to express more compassion than McGee had ever witnessed before – and he was doing it in front of witnesses! McGee looked over at Ducky as if to make sure what he was seeing was actually happening and not just some delusion brought on by fatigue. As his eyes locked with the older man there was no mistaking that he was equally as shocked. Ducky knew Gibbs could be compassionate and sensitive _behind_ _closed doors _and only when he was confiding in the ME, his long time friend, about his true feelings. Only on the rarest of occasions did Ducky catch Jethro showing that compassion and care when other people were around. Suddenly the nurse's still too enthusiastic voice broke through, pulling their attention back to her.****

"Well Dr. Mallard, I must say your hand is a pretty accurate thermometer! His fever's back up and yes it is higher than before by a whole 1.5 degrees! Thanks for alerting us to it now we need to take the appropriate steps to bring it back down just as we did before. I'll page the other physician assigned to Mr. DiNozzo right away."

Gibbs couldn't hold back any longer. It had taken all of his Marine training to refrain before but hearing her thank someone who wasn't even supposed to be monitoring or treating Tony - for alerting **_them_** – well that was it! The fact that Ducky just happened to come in when he did and ended up saving critical time did nothing to cloud the fact that someone else should have checked on Tony much sooner!

"While you're at it why don't you also '_alert' _the doctor that I have a bone to pick with him over the lack of proper monitoring that my agent seems to be getting! Just how long would you and your staff have let him lay here suffering while his fever rose to life threatening levels before you decided to **CHECK – ON – HIM**?"

"Jethro -"

"Ducky!" the furious glance that Gibbs shot the ME caused him to refrain from his aborted attempt to get him to calm down.

"Uh . . . very well Agent Gibbs . . . I will tell him." the now cowering nurse replied before turning to rush out of the ward to page Doctor Keenan.

Gibbs looked back down at Tony suddenly feeling bad for yelling right over his agent's fevered head and hoping it hadn't startled him further. Leaning down Gibbs whispered a few inches from Tony's ear.

"Tony I know you can hear me. You **keep **fighting ya got that? We're all gonna get through this - **together**."

**_To Be Continued . . ._**

**_A/N II: _**_The next chapter will move us further along in the portion of the story regarding the threats the team and hospital are getting. The Doctor's with the help of Abby and Ducky will finally be able to determine the extent of Tony's man-made illness and inform everyone of their estimated severity and duration of the illness as well. Stay Tuned and please review! :-)_


	20. FINALLY an update!

_**APOLOGIES AND PROMISE FROM BNBFANATIC: I know I seem to be getting even SLOWER with my updates on all of my stories and I seriously apologize for that. My newest job is wearing me out - leaving me no time for anything fun like writing. I PROMISE all of you that I am going to write a little every day no matter how tired I am just so I can update ALL of my other stories within the next week or two. Please don't give up on me as I will NEVER abandon any of my stories! **I even miss finding out what's happening next in my own stories!_

**_Thank you for hanging in there with me!_**

_**Very quick clarification**__ on why the terrorists are demanding that Gibbs turn Tony back over to them. They had learned through Tony's truth serum induced ramblings that he was the one responsible for planning the entire rescue mission – and that Gibbs was the sniper of the group and therefore responsible for__ literally__ pulling the trigger. This made them both equally responsible and someone had to pay the price. But since Tony had also mentioned that he had been Gibbs' right hand man for nearly a decade the terrorist's knew that Agent Gibbs would be devastated if his Senior Agent was taken from him just as brutally as Saleem had been taken from them. **An eye for an eye . . .**_

_**~ Enjoy ~**_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

"Jethro -" Ducky started to attempt to calm Gibbs down after his

"Duuck-yy." Gibbs tone of voice and furious glare that Gibbs shot the ME caused him to abort his attempt to play peacemaker.

"Uh . . . very well Agent Gibbs . . . I will tell him." the now cowering nurse replied before turning to rush out of the ward to page Doctor Keenan. Gibbs looked back down at Tony suddenly feeling bad for yelling right over his agent's fevered head and hoping it hadn't startled him further. Leaning down Gibbs whispered a few inches from Tony's ear.

"Tony I know you can hear me. You **keep **fighting ya got that? We're all gonna get through this - **together**."

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XX**

**Hospital Isolation Ward In Somalia . . . Time approximately 23:40P.M. (11:40 pm) **

It wasn't long at all before a doctor that they hadn't met yet, came into the room moving quickly towards Tony's bed. Gibbs relaxed tremendously as he could tell by the man's body language that he wasn't taking Tony's ever wavering condition as lightly as the nurse had.

"Agent Gibbs, I assume this small ice pack the nurse handed me on my way in here, is for that bruised eye of yours since this is hardly enough to bring down someone's high fever." He lightly jested as he handed the eye pack to Gibbs with his eyes only glancing at Gibb's eye for about 2 seconds before looking quickly back at the suffering man on the bed.

"Someone will be in here in just a couple of minutes with ice blanket and packs to help cool him down. I understand you are already familiar with the procedure so I won't bore you by explaining it again." The doctor turned back towards Gibbs reaching out his hand as he introduced himself.

"I am Doctor Jakar Sarianto – Doctor Sari is what most people call me. I am the Chief Neurosurgeon here and Khalim . . . or Doctor Nokur rather, had asked me to do a neurological exam on Agent DiNozzo to see what kind of symptoms or side effect he's experiencing due to the neurotoxins that he was injected with. That may help us narrow down what he was given and treat him more aggressively. I planned my exam for later today but I was paged to come sooner due to his worsening condition."

Gibbs dropped the unwelcome ice pack onto a chair before speaking. "Well no offense Dr. Sarianto but shouldn't you have made _this_ patient your first priority? He's been here for a long damn time so why wasn't this exam of yours done immediately after our arrival? I'd like to get some answers as to what the hell he was even stricken with! Hell we don't even know at this point what his chances of survival even are!" Gibbs was done playing nice. He had terrorists making threats against his team, one agent in surgery and one writhing in pain and fever. Now was **not** the time for passive treatment.

"No offense taken Agent Gibbs – you are right. I wasn't made aware of how badly he was faring when I was finally asked to assist with his case. I will see to it that you are given the necessary documents to file a complaint with the hospital board as this seems to happen more frequently than I care to admit and something needs to be done about it. A complaint from a former US Marine slash top US Government Special Agent would do wonders I'm sure."

"Very well then, not that complaining later will do anything for my agent now. For now let's get down to what you are going to do to help my agent. He's been suffering far too long with no progress in his treatment and no word of test results or prognosis!" making his heated statement the nurses had come in and already were in the process of the usual procedures meant to cool off Tony's body as quickly as possible. Ducky and McGee stepped out of the way while staying close enough to hear and observe.

"First things first we need to get this fever down. The monitor reading is showing 103.5 right now but since the nurses are in the process of bringing it down now then I can at least get started on some of the tests I need starting with testing his reflexes. I also have an update for you from your lab expert. . . Abby is it?"

Gibbs nodded in response as they all watched the doctor as he tapped a small rubber tipped instrument against Tony's elbows, knees and other various reflex generators. None of them missed the sluggish or sometimes complete lack of reflex that occurred with some of the taps.

"She supplied me with the breakdown of the substance found in your agent's blood and I don't think I have ever seen a substance broken down to that level before. She's definitely good at what she does. It looks like a majority of the compound was comprised with some basic and well known neurotoxins. Those are easier to treat and the body seems to respond well to the treatments. But I'm afraid her findings aren't 100% positive meaning there also appears to be a few components that are of a quite rare nature and appear to have been manually altered making them difficult to treat since we don't know all of the potential side effects that may occur."

Gibbs, Ducky and McGee all physically perked up upon hearing the good news while they later deflated again upon hearing the bad. Their eyes alternated from watching Tony's face as he started sweating even though covered in ice packs, to staring at the doctor waiting for more information.

"I will say this – I do not feel that his condition is grave. I do feel good about his chances right now, he's definitely a fighter. I think if we monitor him even more closely and treat each symptom as it appears – then we can help get him through this slightly unscathed."

"What do you mean _slightly_?" Gibbs demanded.

"Well, I still have a multitude of tests that I would like to put him through before I can say with any certainty but . . . some of his reflexes are not responding as they should. Therefore I can't say at this point that he won't suffer from permanent nerve damage by the time we get this stuff through and out of his system. I am going to recommend some changes to his medication as well as increasing the flow of his IV's in an effort to flush this stuff through faster. But you have my word I will do everything I can to prevent as much permanent damage from happening as I can."

This time it was Ducky who spoke up. "Thank you doctor. From one colleague to another I appreciate your honesty and your positive attitude. "

Gibbs added his own comments. "Do whatever you need to do as far as tests go doc. I don't like seeing my agent suffering like this and I do not want to lose him as my second in command just from nerve damage that could end his career! I am his medical proxy so you have my permission for anything you need to do. Just do it fast."

With that the doctor promised to do just that and to keep them informed and he left to make arrangements for the rest of the testing. Just then a new nurse entered the room to update them on Ziva's surgery.

"Gentlemen, I am here to update on how Agent David's surgery is going so far. So far everything is going wonderfully. Just as the doctor suspected she had a small tear in her spleen most likely from the physical abuse it would appear that she had endured over an extended period of time. The doctor doesn't anticipate that it will need to be removed and decided that they could just repair the tear instead. That is good news considering that if she were to lose her spleen then her immune system would be even more compromised and weak which could make her more susceptible to whatever it ailing your Agent DiNozzo if any of the toxins he was injected with prove to be contagious."

All three men let out the breaths they had been holding as they were relieved that they didn't have to worry about two agents fighting for their lives and could now just focus on getting Tony back up to par.

"Thank you Nurse, we appreciate the update." Ducky responded.

"How much longer will she be in there?" Gibbs added.

"Well, I can't give you an exact amount of time but I'm certain that it shouldn't be much longer now, I believe they were just about to close her up. They were able to do the surgery through a couple of microscopic incisions and just had to check to make sure there were no other slow bleeds anywhere else before closing the incisions." She left the room shortly thereafter as Gibbs and team moved closer to surround Tony's bed while they discussed the next steps – dealing with the terrorists that didn't seem to be ready to let up anytime soon.

As they looked down at Tony they were all relieved to see some normal color returning to his cheeks. Not the anemic pallor he had when he first became ill, nor the overly bright red flush he had when his fever flared. For a minute he looked like Tony again, as though he were 100% healthy and merely sleeping. Ducky grabbed a nearby towel and proceeded to wipe the remnants of sweat that still lingered on Tony's skin. Once he finished that task he started checking his vitals the old fashioned way by checking his pulse via his neck and then using the monitors to give him updates on all of the other information.

Gibbs meanwhile got back down to business. "McGee, get Abby on the phone. Tell her to get a mask from the nurses' station and get her in here. We need to all discuss getting these terrorist idiots off our back so we can plan on getting back home - **and **I want a run down on all of the other evidence she's been evaluating!"

McGee took one last look at his partner before going for the nearest phone. He felt contradicted between happiness that Ziva was okay and that Tony looked a hell of a lot better – while he found he could not let go of the doctor's comments that Tony could end up with permanent nerve damage and heaven only knew what that could mean. He decided to push the thoughts out of his head and focus on his task at hand.

Dialing, the phone in the hospital lab rang only twice before being picked up. "Abby's temporary lab – what can I do ya for?"

"Abby you had to have known it was me or I doubt you would answer a hospital line like that." McGee snarked. "Gibbs wants you to come down here and –"

Click . . . buzzzzzzzzzzz

McGee held out the phone he was holding, listening to the dial tone while he stared at it in stunned silence. '_She just hung up on me!'_ he whispered out loud to himself in shock.

It seemed he had barely hung up the phone and made it back to Tony's bedside so he could let Gibbs know he made the call when a white blur with black pig tails came bursting through the door barely getting the elastic loops on the mask over her ears.

"How's my Tony bear doing?" she hollered as she ran behind Gibbs so she could get up to the head of the bed. Gibbs didn't know what just happened as he stepped aside to make room for the hyperactive forensic specialist.

The three men stared at her as they slowly comprehended her sudden arrival and pondered how the hell she made it down there so quickly.

"Ohhh you poor baby! He looks _**wiped**_Gibbs! Is he dying? Please tell me he's not dying? I can't go through that again, I mean he already almost died when he got the plague! He can't-"

"Abby."

Gibbs gently and quietly uttered her name as he put his arm around her shoulders, giving them a gently squeeze of reassurance. "Abby calm down, he's not dying. He knows better than to go against my direct orders and you know that. Same as when he had the plague."

Abby turned and hugged him, thankful she had him to calm her down and keep her from losing it completely. "Thanks Gibbs. I believe you but how is he really? He looks like he's in a coma or something." She reached out and ran her fingers lightly across Tony's forehead and down one side of his face. Then she reached up and smoothed out his hair that had become even more spiked from the wetness of his recent fever flare up.

"Tony hates when his hair looks like that. It's a good think I came down here cuz he would not want to wake up and find out his hair was all over the place."

Ducky, Gibbs and McGee all smiled while listening to her comments. They all knew she was simply nervous purposely talking about random things in an effort to avoid finding out what his prognosis was - even though she had just asked Gibbs to tell her.

"Abby, you need to trust me that Tony will be fine. Someone will be back in a few minutes to take off the ice blankets and get him dried and changed into dry pajamas. While they do that we need to sit down and discuss your findings and the latest phone call from Saleem's men."

Everyone was taken aback by the calm and almost _nice_ way that their leader was acting. Though no one would dare to question it.

"I will stay here with Anthony while you three get to work. I'll press the call button if no one arrives within the next couple of minutes." Ducky took the initiative to volunteer to stay by Tony so the others could feel better about stepping away.

On that note Gibbs led Abby and McGee over to the other end of the room where they sat down on beds and chairs to get started on going over evidence for the current mission they were still on as well as the latest phone call from the terrorist group. Time was of the essence now.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N – **I am not 100% excited about this chapter so I apologize if I missed any errors in the storyline or left any of you bored. I am going back and forth on how I want to handle Saleem's group and their revenge. I won't hurt Tony anymore though so don't worry about that. I am always open to hearing anyone's ideas on what they would like to see happen in the upcoming chapters so send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE if you have any input for me.** THANK YOU ALL! Pls review and be kind. **_


	21. Positive AN not a chapter yet

_**Attention Readers**__ – DON'T WORRY - I am NOT discontinuing ANY of my stories and will never ever do that to you - you have my solemn word!_

_I am appalled by Author's that do that to their loyal fans! I also hate when they put an author's note where a chapter should be (like I am doing now haha) but this time I had no choice since you deserve to know why the heck I've been so slow at updating my fics. _

_I have a legitimate reason this time as to why I am more delayed than usual. __I have been in the hospital (ICU wing) for the better part of the last week - fighting some infection that took over my body. Now that I have been released I will do my best to make up for lost time! Some of the things that were ailing me may also explain why I have been so abnormally exhausted which has also affected my ability to write since I barely get through the day!_

_Thanks for hangin' with me and for your patience and I hope you will continue to do so! Love you all and you will see updates coming very very soon!_

_With Love,_

_BnBFanatic :-)_


	22. Family Vengeance

_**Suggestion for reading my stories: **__I noticed how my stories are looking almost overwhelming due to the amount of words I write in each new chapter. I found it less daunting if you go up to the top right corner on the webpage and click on ¾ where the formatting options are located. This just makes it more readable for whatever reason. _

_**Writer's Block!**__ – _I have to admit my biggest reason for delaying the last 2 updates on this story was due to writers block. I think this chapter has gotten me past that but would love to hear ideas.

_**YOUR IDEAS: **_Please feel free to PM me ANY suggestions or wish lists you have for this story. It's the only one of all my fics that I am struggling with all of a sudden.

I hope you are still enjoying this story!

_**~ Enjoy ~**_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on Consequences Of The Truth:**_

_Everyone was taken aback by the calm and almost __nice__ way that their leader was acting. Though no one would dare to question it._

_"I will stay here with Anthony while you three get to work. I'll press the call button if no one arrives within the next couple of minutes." Ducky took the initiative to volunteer to stay by Tony so the others could feel better about stepping away._

_On that note, Gibbs led Abby and McGee over to the other end of the room where they sat down on beds and chairs to get started on going over evidence for the current mission they were still on as well as the latest phone call from the terrorist group. Time was of the essence now._

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**Consequences Of The Truth**

**Chapter XXI**

_**Elsewhere in the Hospital – Employee Locker Room . . .**_

"I heard you! And I'm telling you Sayed - the man is **not** _that_ critical!"

A young nurse with shoulder length dark brown was whispering at a higher volume that she meant to, no one else was even in the locker room at the moment but she still wanted to be cautious in case someone walked in. She had been paged by her former lover Sayed - Sayed **_Ulman_**, he was inquiring about one of the US Federal Agents that had been brought in for treatment.

"Why, what's so special about that particular patient anyway? And where the hell do you get off paging me and then demanding private information that I could get fired for giving out? Jeez you don't even ask me how I am doing for cryin' out loud!"

"Calm the hell down Latelle! I am sorry I didn't ask about your well being, don't forget – you are the one who broke up with ME in the first place so don't go acting like I don't care about you, I always have and always will dammit! This is a critical matter . . . my brother Saleem . . . he's dead okay! And THAT agent is the one who is most responsible for his death."

The young nurse brought her hand up to her mouth as she opened it in shock of what she had just heard. "Ohh my gosh – okay okay calm down. I am truly very sorry Sayed, I mean it - very, very sorry. But how? What happened?"

"Listen, I will tell you more later but right now I don't have time. I am sorry, but you are absolutely positive he's not going to die?"

"Well he's not on my floor but from what I heard, he's in bad shape but he's showing signs of improvement the last I heard."

"Okay thank you Latti - I mean it. Now I might need another small favor from you so would you mind if I page you again soon if I do?"

"Well, it's against my better judgment but . . . okay. Only because I am sorry for the loss of your Brother and I want to do what I can to help. But it better not be anything too crazy – I know how you can be when someone crosses your family and friends. My ex-boyfriend before you still has scars from his run in with you. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid!"

"Sorry Latti, it might be too late for that and to be honest, I don't think anything can stop me."

The next sound Latelle heard was dial tone as she realized her ex was no longer connected. Saying a silent prayer to herself for his safety she walked out of the locker room to head back to her station.

_**Isolation Ward . . .**_

"Abby" Gibbs had them all trained so well that just by the tone he used to just say their name – his team knew he wanted sit-reps on whatever they were researching individually.

"Yeah, okay so I was able to figure out what 95% of the compound was that was used on Tony. This lab is way cool I mean for being in another Country, they have some awesome –"

"Abs!"

"Well, unfortunately there are a few components that have been altered so much that there is no way I can tell exactly what they consist of. Even having some drops of the actual compound taken from the hypo they used to inject . . . him . . . with . . ." she couldn't help by steal a glance in Tony's direction to make sure he was still doing alright. Gibbs caught the look of pure despair and fear that were reflected in her eyes and decided to cut her some slack.

"McGee!"

"Okay well boss I was thinking more about the threat we received and aside from getting a bomb sniffing dog in here to go floor to floor looking for any signs of explosives – I don't know how we can determine if they are calling our bluff or not. So then I started thinking that if it's Tony's blood they want then, well let's give it to them." Ignoring the look of shock and anger on Abby's face McGee kept going.

"I don't mean that literally of course. I mean they want to see Tony die in return for his part in Saleem's death then let's make them think he already died."

Gibbs was never more proud of his junior agent than he was right then. He had come a long way from the self conscious and nervous McGee that used to work down in the NCIS Cyber lab! Abby;s facial expression melted as she realized Tim would never have done anything to hurt their Tony, she felt ashamed that she had jumped to conclusions!

"That's some good work McGee." Gibbs complimented him, "It would be easy to do considering I already told them that Tony was in bad shape earlier today." Then turning to Abby he started barking out new orders.

"Abs, go out and have them page Tony's main physician – the fewer people who know of this plan, the better. We cannot risk the fact that anyone in this hospital could have ties to these terrorists."

McGee, get on that laptop over there and see if you can find a local TV news station that we can use to get the word out of Ton . . . of our plan." He couldn't get himself to say the words 'Tony's death' aloud even knowing it was only going to be an act.

Walking back over to Tony's bed he decided to fill Ducky in on the plan while they waited for the doctor to arrive.

They would have to make this look as realistic as they possibly could no matter how hard it was going to be for the team to even imagine Tony dying.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N**__ - This is a very short chapter but I liked where it ended so I purposely ended it here. I hope you like where I am taking it and even though I seem to be over my writer's block on this story I would still love to hear what any of you would like to see happen! Shoot me a PM for that but don't forget to review too Thank you! Next chapter will be up on this fic just after Xmas._

_**PS**__ - I am hoping to update my Phobia story later this week._

_**HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!**_


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